BJP Tamil Nadu spokesperson Asuvathaman Allimuthu, during a live TV debate, tore into the supposedly ‘neutral’ ‘journalist’ RK Radhakrishnan, who is known for being a DMK mouthpiece.
In a live debate show of Thanthi TV aired on November 20, the BJP spokesperson was responding to the anchor’s question if whether the BJP-AIADMK alliance for the 2021 Assembly elections comes in the wake actor Rajinikanth not launching his party.
Asuvathaman said that there was no point in asking this question as the BJP and the AIADMK are currently in alliance which is just going to continue adding that Rajinikanth is yet to launch his party.
He went on to question RK Radhakrishnan who while speaking earlier had put forth points that are peddled by the DMK. Asuvathaman said “Mr. Radhakrishnan is speaking under the tag of a ‘journalist’. These people who are deeply and explicitly associated with the DMK, what is the need for them to portray themselves as neutral?” to which the Frontline ‘journalist’ got agitated and repeatedly kept gagging Asuvathaman.
Asuvathaman came down heavy on the ‘journalist’ saying “You are biased. You are strongly biased with DMK and you are motivated [instigated] by the DMK” as Radhakrishnan kept shouting “I will not allow this.. I will not allow this..” from behind.
A visibly flustered Radhakrishnan went on a rant while Asuvathaman stressed on revealing the former’s biasedness towards the DMK with the anchor attempting to pacify both asking not to make it personal. Asuvathaman asked the anchor as to how can exposing someone’s biasedness towards one party become a personal attack.
“I am not coming into the right or wrong of it. I am just saying he is strongly biased towards DMK. He is coming under the garb of being neutral. I want to expose the politics behind this to the public. How can it be a personal attack on him?”, Asuvathaman questioned the anchor.
Asuvatham later went on to say that the DMK-Congress alliance is an alliance that betrayed the people of Tamil Nadu. He said that there was strong public anger against the DMK-Congress regime in 2009 which was responsible for the death of lakhs of Tamils in Sri Lanka and the daily shooting of Tamil fishermen in Palk Strait, adding that people like Radhakrishnan were planted in the media as ‘neutral journalists’ to peddle a narrative and create an image of BJP being anti-Tamil. To this, Radhakrishnan once again got angry and went on a rant.
The anchor who kept trying to silence Asuvathaman failed as the latter went about listing how the BJP resolved the pressing problems of Tamil Nadu be it the Cauvery issue, Sri Lankan fishermen issue, building 50,000 houses for Tamils in Jaffna region, or removing ‘fracking’ from Hydracarbon project. He also highlighted how Tamil Nadu has been one of the top beneficiaries of Centre’s schemes like defence industrial corridor, Mudra loans, Jan Dhan Yojana, etc.
Responding to this, Radhakrishnan said that the housing scheme for Jaffna Tamils was first initiated by Dr. Manmohan Singh during the UPA regime. He also questioned why BJP did not protest against NEET or lend its voice for 7.5% reservation for government school students.
It is to be noted that the internal quota for government school students clearing NEET was first mooted in 2017 by current BJP National President JP Nadda when he was the Health Minister. The State Government was advised to pass a legislation in the Assembly to bring in this quota by the then Health Minister.
Asuvathaman asked Radhakrishnan how a problem that was resolved by the BJP and the AIADMK can be appropriated by the DMK.
“The DMK has nothing to do with 7.5%. How can he connect DMK with 7.5% reservation? Is this not bias?”, Asuvathaman rebutted strongly.
“AIADMK brought in the legislation which the BJP had advised to do in 2017. Where is the role of DMK in this? What is the need to credit the DMK with the 7.5% reservation?”, Asuvathaman ripped apart Radhakrishnan as he exposed the latter’s bias towards the DMK
RK Radhakrishnan who is the Associate Editor of The Hindu’s Frontline magazine is known for being a DMK apologist. He participates in debates of Tamil News channels under the garb of a ‘neutral journalist’.
Recently, the ‘neutral journalist’ jumped into the DMK sponsored ‘Hindi Theriyathu Poda’ t-shirt campaign.