Chennai:
A group of intellectuals, including former Chief Justice of Madras High Court T S Arunachalam and former CVC N Vittal, have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking steps to provide "highest security" to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.
Maintaining that Swamy's efforts had led to "effective investigation" and judicial action in many cases of corruption, they said he was facing threat in Tamil Nadu.
"As the state (Tamil Nadu) is getting ready for Assembly elections, some political activists have indulged in burning Swamy's effigies in many places. Some had made threatening remarks against him," the letter said.
Recalling the attack on Swamy by some persons inside a court and before judges in 2009, they said that his office in Madurai was also ransacked in 2008 by anti-social elements.
He was also in the forefront of the fight against the demolition of Ramasethu as part of Sethusamudram project, government takeover of Chidambaram Nataraja temple and also petitioned the governor seeking sanction to prosecute Karunanidhi in a land scam, they said.
"As a politician, Swamy has an impeccable record and been admired by reputed universities world over as a professor of economics," they said and appealed to the prime minister to take "immediate steps to provide the highest security" to him.
The other signatories included former Union secretary B S Raghavan, former state government secretaries V Sankaran and V Sundaram, retired Navy and Army officers and senior RSS and VHP leaders from the state.
A copy of the letter was also sent to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and senior BJP leader L K Advani.