Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary SG Suryah arrested; K Annamalai calls it ’anti-democratic trend

Mangalore Today News Network

Madurai, June 17, 2023: The Madurai police arrested Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary SG Suryah on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday for a tweet wherein he criticized a DMK leader on a social issue.

 

In the said Twitter post, Suryah accused a Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor named Viswanathan of compelling a hygiene worker to clean a drain filled with feces, resulting in the worker’s death due to allergies.

The tweet, addressed to CPI (M) Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, and written in Tamil, read - "Sanitation worker’s life lost by communist councilor. Madurai MP S.Venkatesan who keeps fake silence! Your fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool. Find a way to live as a human being, mate!"

Suryah was arrested under sections 153(a), 505 (1)(b), 505 (1)(c) of IPC and 66(d) IT Act, and is currently being taken to the magistrate for remand.

Reacting to the arrest, the BJP state president K Annamalai took to Twitter and condemned it. "The arrest of Tamil Nadu BJP State Secretary Mr. SG Suryah overnight is highly condemnable. His only mistake was to expose the nasty double standards of the communists, allies of DMK.

"Using state machinery to curtail free speech and getting jittery about the slightest criticism is unbecoming of a democratically elected leader and, indeed, are signs of an autocratic leader in the making. Drawing inspiration from autocrats, TN CM Thiru MK Stalin is turning the state into a lawless jungle," he further wrote in his tweet..

These arrests will not deter us and we will continue to be bearers of the uncomfortable truth, the BJP leader’s tweet said.

SG Suryah’s arrest came just days after the Enforcement Directorate arrested state Minister V Senthil Balaji for his alleged involvement in a job racket scandal, dating back to Balaji’s term as transport minister under the 2011-16 AIADMK government.

Courtesy: India Today