Seven months into his tenure as Tamil Nadu BJP president, K Annamalai launched one of his biggest political campaigns, following the tragic suicide of 17-year-old Lavanya in Thanjavur. Annamalai alleged that Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, where Lavanya was studying, pressured her to convert to Christianity, driving her to take her own life.
The student’s death on January 19, 2022 ignited a communal campaign, with the right-wing ecosystem amplifying claims of ‘rampant coerced conversions’. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) led protests accusing the DMK government of permitting ‘forced conversions’ in Tamil Nadu’s schools, which dominated national headlines for weeks.
