500 oxygen concentrators, 2 vehicles and several hundred PPE kits and masks were among the list of items offered by Isha to the Government of Tamil Nadu today. The items were handed over in a brief event organised for the purpose.
Minister of Health Education and Family Welfare Shri. M. Subramanian; Minister of Food and Civil Supplies Shri. R. Sakkarapani; Minister of Forests Shri. Ramachandran; and Member of Parliament from Pollachi Constituency Shri. Shanmugasundaram were present. Other dignitaries at the event included the Health Secretary Shri. Radhakrishnan; Coimbatore District Collector Shri. Nagarajan; Coimbatore Government Hospital Dean Smt. Nirmala; DRO Ramadhurai and former MLA Shri. Karthik.
Isha also contributed 500 PPE-kits, 5000 N95 face masks and 500 CPAP machines to the Coimbatore Government Hospital.
Isha volunteers including Brahmacharies, full-time volunteers and Ashram residents have been working on the ground in several villages of Tamil Nadu for more than a year as part of the Isha COVID Action agenda to alleviate human suffering. Relief work includes daily serving of Nilavembu Kashayam to the community. The potent herbal drink strengthens the immune system and enables the body to fight infection. Volunteers are also teaching Yogic practices specially designed by Sadhguru to enhance immunity, strengthen the respiratory system and increase oxygen levels in the body. Other on-ground efforts include distribution of face masks, sanitizers and PPE besides beverages and snacks to frontline workers.
Eighteen Isha Crematoriums – Kayantha Sthanams – have also been pressed into round-the-clock service to ensure dignity in death for COVID victims and the bereaved
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On May 27th, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested an ISIS terror suspect in Mayiladuthurai who was wanted for a criminal plot in 2018 reportedly directed against a few leaders in Coimbatore including Indu Makkal Katchi Chief Arjun Sampath.
The suspect, A Mohammed Ashiq (25), was apprehended in Needur, near Mayiladuthurai on Thursday. He allegedly pledged loyalty to the terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2018 and was wanted as a prime suspect in a conspiracy to assassinate a few leaders in Coimbatore.
According to NIA sources, a group of seven people from different parts of Tamil Nadu formed a group in Coimbatore and swore allegiance to the terrorist organization ‘ISIS’. They planned to assassinate pro-Hindu politicians in Coimbatore, endangering communal peace as well as the country’s security and sovereignty.
The NIA arrested the group in New Delhi in September 2018 and booked them under various sections including unlawful assembly (IPC 143), criminal conspiracy (IPC 120B) and several sections under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Mohammed Ashiq, who was on trial at Poonamallee in Chennai in 2019 before the Special Court for NIA Cases, was granted bail. However, the court issued a non-bailable warrant to arrest Ashiq as he failed to appear at the following hearings.
According to police sources, Mohammed Ashiq came to Mayiladuthurai months ago and was working in a broiler shop in Needur.
Upon receiving intelligence inputs, a team of NIA officials, accompanied by the local police personnel, raided the broiler shop and arrested Mohammed Ashiq around 9 pm on Thursday.
Mohammed Ashiq was taken to Chennai by the NIA after a brief investigation. The police said that he is likely to be produced in NIA Special Court again.
According to the data released by the Tamil Nadu government, the state had received 78,49,780 vaccines from the Centre till 21st May for vaccinating people above 45 years. It also received 10,62,000 vaccines till 16th May for vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group. The state had received another tranche of 1,90,000 vaccines on 24th May.
However, the vaccination progress in Tamil Nadu has been very slow despite the state getting vaccines at regular intervals from the Centre. When asked about the slow pace of vaccination, Tamil Nadu Health Minister M. Subramanian resorted to playing politics saying that Gujarat had received 14.4% of the vaccines while Tamil Nadu received only 6.4%.
It is to be noted vaccines are not something that can be made in large volumes or bought readily from the open market and sold. Vaccines are on demand all over the world and every country wants more and more. In India, every state needs more vaccines. The Central Government has been allotting enough vaccines to all states as per agreed guidelines set by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) based on production and availability.
While on one hand the DMK government has been claiming vaccine shortage and has been demanding the Centre to allocate more vaccines (which the Centre has been doing), it has conveniently brushed under the carpet the fact that Tamil Nadu has second highest number of vaccines in its stock next only to Uttar Pradesh.
Low vaccination in Tamil Nadu is not driven by vaccine shortages, as the state is reporting large excess supply (total available – total consumed): (2/2) pic.twitter.com/HdFlxAlLAo
Tamil Nadu which has received more than 86 lakh vaccines (according to May 18 GoI data) has more than 13 lakh vaccines in its stock showing that vaccination is very slow with lots of vaccine stock available with the state.
While M. Subramanian may be right about Gujarat getting more vaccines, what he did not know/tell is that it had only 11,25,236 excess vaccines with it on May 18. It means that Gujarat is vaccinating at a faster pace and very efficiently with less wastage as a result of which the state is getting more vaccines.
Tamil Nadu on the other hand, has one of the highest vaccine wastage. As of May 17, Tamil Nadu had wastage of about 10% of the total vaccine doses supplied to the state. Out of the 77.49 lakh doses, only 69.63 lakh doses were used, which is 90 percent. According to a report by Livemint, vaccine wastage is as high as 15.5% in Tamil Nadu next only to Jharkhand (37.3%) and Chhattisgarh (30.2%). A report by The New Indian Express notes that there is high vaccine wastage in at least more than 10 rural health districts.
All this point towards one fact – low vaccination in Tamil Nadu is not driven by vaccine shortages but because of vaccine hesitancy, thanks to irresponsible politicians and the media in the state.
From questioning the efficacy of made-in-India vaccines to peddling unwarranted fears over an actor’s death, here is a list of political leaders, journalists and social media influencers responsible for the rampant vaccine hesitancy in Tamil Nadu.
MK Stalin
DMK chief and current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin during his election campaign continuously kept fear mongering about vaccines. In one of the ‘gram sabha meet’ organized as part of his election campaign in Maduravoyal, Chennai he said “They are news coming about vaccines. We don’t know if it is 100% success. It will be known only later. The Prime Minister has not taken it (vaccine). The Chief Minister (Edappadi K. Palaniswami) has not taken it. Some doctors are taking it. A few others are taking it. Because, it is just like they are testing (on doctors and other people).”
And what is fake. Is this fake? You guys have the audacity to question. Now the entire state suffers pic.twitter.com/NDb1pa5vaB
— Krishna Kumar Murugan (@ikkmurugan) May 23, 2021
Dayanidhi Maran
Dayanidhi Maran in Parliament said that the companies which produce vaccines (Covaxin and Covishield) did not follow proper procedure and did not do proper tests. He also raised concerns about the efficacy of the vaccine.
Sir we trust you to take the issue of Vaccine hesitancy in the debate. An open statement from Dayanidhi and Stalin on their earlier view against Vaccine would help people to gain confidence Can you do ? pic.twitter.com/xVh1myLD0v
— காஸ்மிக்பிளின்கர் (மோடியின் குடும்பம்) 🇮🇳 (@cosmicblinker) May 22, 2021
In another instance, he had said that there is a discomfort and people do not trust the vaccine because of the efficacy adding that the Prime Minister should take the vaccine shot in public view.
Thol. Thirumavalavan
VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan resorted to stoking fear about vaccination for COVID. In his social media post, Thirumavalavan said that the demise of the actor ‘has raised many questions’ and added that there is a fear among people as it was after taking the vaccine that the actor fell unconscious. “The government should clarify this. My condolences to the actor”, the Chidambaram MP said in his tweet.
அவருடைய மறைவு பல கேள்விகளுக்கு இடமளிப்பதாக அமைந்துவிட்டது.
தடுப்பூசி போட்டதற்குப் பின்னர்தான் அவர் சுயநினைவை இழந்தார் என்பது மக்களிடையே #அச்சத்தை ஏற்படுத்தியுள்ளது. இதனை அரசு தெளிவுபடுத்த வேண்டும். அவருக்கு எமது அஞ்சலி. pic.twitter.com/SswDq6L5ix
— Thol. Thirumavalavan (@thirumaofficial) April 17, 2021
In an interview to a Tamil YouTube channel, VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan says that he is not against vaccines and that he himself has taken 2 doses of Covishield but goes on to make unsubstantiated claims about vaccines. He says that people are having fear about the vaccines while it was public personalities like him who had correlated actor Vivekh’s death with him taking vaccines. He says that it was the responsibility of the government to address such fears. He also goes on to say that AIIMS doctor themselves have noted that there is a chance of people getting heart attack after taking vaccine.
Seeman
Speaking to reporters during a press meet in January 2021, Seeman went on an anti-vaccine propaganda saying that many of his ‘doctor’ friends across the world have told him to not to take the vaccine. “Corona is not like cholera or small pox. It is working in different ways (mutation). In that case, this vaccine is for which one? What are the after effects of taking the vaccine? They are doing this for politics. That is why I am saying, don’t vaccinate your children. I know a lot of well-known doctors in America, Britain etc. They are telling me not to get vaccinated or let others vaccinate. They tell that no matter what, don’t vaccinate.”
Sumanth Raman
Dr. Sumanth Raman posted a tweet in which he tried to stoke fears linking actor Vivekh suffering a heart attack with him getting vaccinated for COVID on April 15.
In the tweet Sumanth Raman said “If I remember correctly @Actor_Vivek had his #covid vaccine yesterday. Too early to say if there was any link with his illness today. Wishing him a speedy recovery. #vivek”.
If I remember correctly @Actor_Vivek had his #covid vaccine yesterday. Too early to say if there was any link with his illness today. Wishing him a speedy recovery. #vivek
After his tweet received backlash, Sumanth put another tweet saying that ‘science is important’
Communist Dr. Ravindranath
During a press meet in January 2021, Dr. Ravindranath, a card-carrying communist who also participates in debates of Tamil News channels, said that the reason the Government of India was hastening the process of roll out of vaccines was to grab the international market for vaccines and help the two companies (SII and Bharat Biotech) earn profits.
Tamil Media and YouTube Channels
1) The above video of Ravindranath which posted in the Tamil YouTube Channel ‘Red Pix’ was titled as ‘COVID vaccine – corporate race between COVISHIELD & COVEXIN’ and has got more than 12000 views. Red Pix channel has more than 1.72 million subscribers. There are so many such videos of Red Pix with click bait titles that peddles fears about vaccines.
2) News 7 Tamil, a mainstream news channel put out a video of a doctor clarifying doubts about the vaccine. Though the doctor in this video says that taking the vaccine will not cause heart attack, the video has been titled “Vaccines cause heart attack? Famous cardiologist explains”. When read in Tamil, the question mark is sure to evoke scepticism about the vaccines.
3) LMES (Let’s Make Engineering Simple) came out with a click bait title for their video “Will Corona vaccine kill us?”
4) Puthiya Thalaimurai, another popular mainstream news channel had covered actor Vivekh’s press meet on April 15 who had taken the vaccine at the Omandurar Hospital. This video was titled “Even if you put vaccine, corona will come.. but”. This video has got 6.8 lakh views. Apart from this, the channel has fear mongered about vaccines various times. On January 17, it posted a video with the titled “52 people in Delhi who took vaccine get side effects”. This video got 5.72 lakh views. On January 18, they posted another video with the title “447 people who took corona vaccine get side effects” which has garnered 2.16 lakh views.
5) Behindwoods YouTube channel had come up with the idea of using a celebrity for spreading awareness about vaccines. In this video, actor Karthi discusses with a popular doctor about vaccines. However, the video was given a misleading title “Which vaccine is good?” when the message has to be any vaccine is good.
6) When actor Vivekh was admitted to hospital due to cardiac arrest, this is what Red Pix posted – “Tamil comedy actor Vivek who took the Covid vaccine admitted to hospital”. The video got more than 1.13 lakh views.
7) Sun News, the DMK family owned channel was even worse. This is what they peddled in the months of January and February:
“99 people who took corona vaccine get side effects” – The video posted on January 17 has got more than 2.25 lakh views
“Man who took corona vaccine dies” – The video posted on February 10 has got more than 93,000 views
“Skip vaccination if you don’t like” – This was the title for the news posted on January 29 in which the Madras High Court had dismissed a petition that sought a ban on Covishield and Covaxin.
8) BBC News Tamil put out a video trying to bust the myths surrounding the vaccine. This was the title “Pork mixed in vaccine? Will corona vaccine cause impotence? What is the truth?”.
9) Thanthi TV had put a news titled “Man dies after taking corona vaccine” on April 25.
10) As early as February, The News Minute gave space to an article about a man named Riaz filing a writing petition in the Madras High Court alleging that his health deteriorated and that he had acute neuro encephalopathy days after taking the vaccine.
Today, as Tamil Nadu grapples with the second wave of the virus with people gasping for breath and bodies queuing in crematoriums, I wonder how these people are able to sleep peacefully every night.
Following a series of attempts by Hindu Munnani and various Hindu organizations, the Mandapam of the famous Panamudeeswarar temple in Kanchipuram district, which is under the control of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department, has been reclaimed from the encroachers.
The Mandapam of Kanchipuram Panamudeeswarar Temple, which is located adjacent to the temple’s tower, was occupied by encroachers who attempted to construct a building on it.
However, with the continuous efforts of Hindu Munnani and various other Hindu organizations, the Mandapam was recovered from encroachers, and the building constructed was demolished by HR&CE authorities.
HR&CE officials, who used a JCP machine to destroy the unlawful construction, placed a placard stating that the property belongs to Panamudeeswarar Temple. The public and temple activists want HR&CE authorities to be proactive in reclaiming temple properties rather than reactively reclaiming them from encroachers after receiving a complaint.
The horrifying video that made rounds on social media of a young girl being sexually assaulted and brutalized by four men and a woman has now come to an end as the police have arrested the rapists.
Responding immediately the Bangalore police on Thursday (27 May) swung into action and on Friday (28 May) arrested and registered a case against six persons, including two women, at the Ramamurthy Nagar Police. On the same day, Assam Police had promised to reward anyone who was able to identify the brutes.
When police went to arrest them they had to use their guns and in that process two of the accused, involved in the viral gang-rape incident were injured. Later it emerged that they are all Bangladeshi citizens, namely, Mohammed Baba Sheikh, Ridoy Babo, Sagar, and Hakeel who were arrested.
In a statement, the police informed, “Both were shot at their knees before they were nabbed and are now being treated at a government hospital.” Also, in a new development, the police have set up a special team to track the victim, who was forced into an international prostitution ring operating from the neighbouring state of Kerala.
One of the accused seen in the video, Ridoy is apparently a TikTok star in Bangladesh with over 71 thousand followers.
However, credit must go to the Assam police who managed to trace the chain of video forwards and was able to locate its origin to a mobile phone in the city of Bengaluru. Special teams were deployed by Bengaluru police to track down the perpetrators. The four men and a female accused were all arrested from a rented house in Avalahalli in Ramamurthy Nagar.
“Based on the contents of the video and preliminary investigation, a case of rape and assault has been registered against 6 persons including 2 women at @ramamurthyngrps,” Bangalore police commissioner Kamal Pant said late on Thursday.
Based on the contents of the video and preliminary investigation, a case of rape and assault has been registered against 6 persons including 2 women at @ramamurthyngrps.
A police team has also been deputed to an adjoining state to trace the victim so that she could join.. (1/3)
— CP Bengaluru ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಆಯುಕ್ತ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು (@CPBlr) May 27, 2021
As per reports, all the accused worked as laborers, and under the pretext of a job brought the girl from Bangladesh illegally to be trafficked into prostitution.
However, for reason unknown, she was able to flee, but the accused hunted her down and gang-raped her with the help of their female aide.
#Nirbhaya-like incident in #Bengaluru. 22-year-old allegedly gang raped by 4 at NRI Colony 6 days ago. Another lady present with accused. All including victim are illegal #immigrants from #Bangladesh reportedly involved in prostitution. Personal rivalry cited. Accused arrested. pic.twitter.com/2zpfIjMxfm
Meanwhile, two cases were also registered by the Hatirjheel Police in Bangladesh under the pornography act and the human trafficking act.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police from Tejgaon, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mohammad Sahidullah has said that the victim in the video has been identified as a resident of the Mogbazar area in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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A school teacher from Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Chennai has been sacked following PSBB’s Rajagopalan in a sexual harassment case. The school administration has taken action following allegations of sexual harassment by alumni.
Rajagopalan, a teacher at PSBB School in KK Nagar, Chennai, was accused of sexually harassing students in class, going to the extent of inviting a student to the cinema, trespassing directly on students, cell phones and trespassing during online classes. Following the virality of this on social media, Rajagopalan has been arrested and is being investigated. He has been sacked by the school administration.
Anand, an 11th and 12th class commerce teacher at Maharishi Vidya Mandir School in Ayanavaram, Chennai, was also accused of sexually harassing alumni. Anand has been sacked following the publication of various allegations against him on a social networking site, including a sexual harassment complaint.
Officials at Maharishi Vidya Mandir said in a statement, “For the past two days, alumni have been making various allegations against Anand, a business studies teacher, through social media and e-mail. A committee has been set up to look into the matter. The investigation will be conducted in an honest and transparent manner. The committee will submit a report soon. Necessary action will be taken immediately based on the report. Anand has been sacked on May 26. We have advised that he should not interact in any way with former and current students of the school.”
The statement added: “The welfare and safety of the students we consider to be our own children is important to us. We will never tolerate any kind of violence, abuse or misconduct against them. We are for education and students. Even though they are alumni, they are important to us.”
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There was a commotion at St. Isabel Hospital in Mylapore, Chennai, when the relatives of a deceased COVID patient held a protest in front of the Hospital.
Iruthayaraj, a resident of the Thousand Lights area of Chennai, was admitted to St. Isabel Hospital in Mylapore. He received COVID treatment for the past 21 days, for which the hospital charged them ₹ 3 lakhs.
He died on May 27th after failing to respond to medication. However, the hospital has informed them that the body would be released only if they pay an additional ₹ 5 lakh.
On hearing this news, more than 50 relatives besieged the hospital. Police arrived at the scene and spoke with the outraged relatives. The hospital administration and the relatives reached an agreement, and the relatives agreed to pay ₹ 1.5 lakhs. only after the agreed amount, the body of the deceased was released.
Following the row over Vairamuthu being named as a recipient of the ONV literary award, the ONV Cultural Academy has decided to reconsider its decision.
ONV Cultural Academy has in a statement said that the the award is now under reconsideration at the instance of the selection committee,
The ONV Literary Award is instituted in the name of Jnanpith-award winning poet ONV Kurup. The academy’s decision to confer the award to Vairmuthu came under fire from different prominent persons as the lyricist has been accused of sexual harassment by several women.
‘Me Too’ accused Vairamuthu has also been facing the ire for his pedophilic lyrics in a recently released song as part of his ‘Naatpadu Theral’ series, a collaborative project with DMK’s Kalaignar TV.
The song is about a school-going girl in love with a grey-haired old ‘poet’ and is filmed with 16-year-old star Anika Surendran.
A complaint has been lodged with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) against ‘Me Too’ fame Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu for penning a song that romanticizes pedophilia.
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The video of the DMK office-bearer Misa.M. Pandian threatening a Police inspector in front of the Police station in Madurai has gone viral on social media.
Misa Pandian, the former Deputy Mayor of Madurai and a DMK office bearer, went to the Jaihindpuram police station with his relative and intimidated Inspector Sethumani Madhavan to file a complaint against the person he didn’t like.
Misapandian and his relative got into an argument with the police inspector, who claimed that their complaint is being investigated.
With the release of the video, netizens and social activists fear that even police officers are not protected under the DMK government.
Misa Pandian is a repeat offender who was detained by Madurai police a few years ago for harassing a lady employee of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department working at Madurai’s Sri Pandi Muneeswarar Temple.
The demand for the release of the convicts of the Rajiv assassination case – Murugan, Santhan, Nalini, Rober Pious, Jayakumar, Ravichandran and Perarivalan – has been a consistent demand made by the Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu.
The assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is a black mark in the history of Tamil Nadu. The act represented a significant threat to India’s sovereignty from a foreign terrorist organization.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin recently wrote to President of India, requesting the release of seven convicts. When a ruling party makes such a demand, it sends a message to people in other states that the whole of Tamil Nadu supports Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. It creates an impression that Tamil Nadu is chauvinistic and continues to support terrorism under the guise of ‘Tamil rights’, which is why we see series being made that portrays Tamils as ‘terrorists’. But that is not the case.
The two contradicting Resolutions voted by the Tamil Nadu Assembly are worth highlighting here. In April 2002, the then AIADMK government passed a resolution in the Tamil Nadu assembly condemning the assassination attempt and demanding the execution of those guilty, including LTTE chief Prabhakaran. According to the resolution, no one from a banned terrorist organization should be permitted to enter Tamil Nadu. However, following the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009, the Tamil Nadu government takes the exact opposite of the 2002 resolution and adopts a new resolution in favour of Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts.
What happened in the intervening period?
It is true that many innocent Sri Lankan Tamils were killed in the final war with the LTTE. As a result, the Tamil Nadu people sympathised with the Sri Lankan Tamils after 2009. However, the Tamil fringe groups in Tamil Nadu tried and turned the sympathy in favour of LTTE.
It is to be noted that except Nalini and Perarivalan, the other five convicts in the case are not even citizens of India. They are Sri Lankan nationals and have been convicted for killing a Prime Minister of a country. Imagine the international ramification if these convicts are released on ‘humanitarian’ grounds.
At a time when the world is rallying against terrorism, releasing the assassins of our former Prime Minister would set a bad precedent.
We could have saved ourselves from all these troubles if the convicts had been hanged at that time as soon as they were convicted. But, politicians had to play politics over of national security despite it being not an electoral issue. Even now, instead of demanding the release of the killers, politicians may try to help the well-being of Sri Lankan Tamils and those stranded in refugee camps scrounging here for a living to help them get citizenship in India to lead normal lives.
But that would be too much to expect from the politicians of Dravidian parties.
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The enablers of vaccine hesitancy in Tamil Nadu
According to the data released by the Tamil Nadu government, the state had received 78,49,780 vaccines from the Centre till 21st May for vaccinating people above 45 years. It also received 10,62,000 vaccines till 16th May for vaccinating people in the 18-44 age group. The state had received another tranche of 1,90,000 vaccines on 24th May.
However, the vaccination progress in Tamil Nadu has been very slow despite the state getting vaccines at regular intervals from the Centre. When asked about the slow pace of vaccination, Tamil Nadu Health Minister M. Subramanian resorted to playing politics saying that Gujarat had received 14.4% of the vaccines while Tamil Nadu received only 6.4%.
It is to be noted vaccines are not something that can be made in large volumes or bought readily from the open market and sold. Vaccines are on demand all over the world and every country wants more and more. In India, every state needs more vaccines. The Central Government has been allotting enough vaccines to all states as per agreed guidelines set by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) based on production and availability.
While on one hand the DMK government has been claiming vaccine shortage and has been demanding the Centre to allocate more vaccines (which the Centre has been doing), it has conveniently brushed under the carpet the fact that Tamil Nadu has second highest number of vaccines in its stock next only to Uttar Pradesh.
Tamil Nadu which has received more than 86 lakh vaccines (according to May 18 GoI data) has more than 13 lakh vaccines in its stock showing that vaccination is very slow with lots of vaccine stock available with the state.
While M. Subramanian may be right about Gujarat getting more vaccines, what he did not know/tell is that it had only 11,25,236 excess vaccines with it on May 18. It means that Gujarat is vaccinating at a faster pace and very efficiently with less wastage as a result of which the state is getting more vaccines.
Tamil Nadu on the other hand, has one of the highest vaccine wastage. As of May 17, Tamil Nadu had wastage of about 10% of the total vaccine doses supplied to the state. Out of the 77.49 lakh doses, only 69.63 lakh doses were used, which is 90 percent. According to a report by Livemint, vaccine wastage is as high as 15.5% in Tamil Nadu next only to Jharkhand (37.3%) and Chhattisgarh (30.2%). A report by The New Indian Express notes that there is high vaccine wastage in at least more than 10 rural health districts.
All this point towards one fact – low vaccination in Tamil Nadu is not driven by vaccine shortages but because of vaccine hesitancy, thanks to irresponsible politicians and the media in the state.
From questioning the efficacy of made-in-India vaccines to peddling unwarranted fears over an actor’s death, here is a list of political leaders, journalists and social media influencers responsible for the rampant vaccine hesitancy in Tamil Nadu.
MK Stalin
DMK chief and current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin during his election campaign continuously kept fear mongering about vaccines. In one of the ‘gram sabha meet’ organized as part of his election campaign in Maduravoyal, Chennai he said “They are news coming about vaccines. We don’t know if it is 100% success. It will be known only later. The Prime Minister has not taken it (vaccine). The Chief Minister (Edappadi K. Palaniswami) has not taken it. Some doctors are taking it. A few others are taking it. Because, it is just like they are testing (on doctors and other people).”
Dayanidhi Maran
Dayanidhi Maran in Parliament said that the companies which produce vaccines (Covaxin and Covishield) did not follow proper procedure and did not do proper tests. He also raised concerns about the efficacy of the vaccine.
In another instance, he had said that there is a discomfort and people do not trust the vaccine because of the efficacy adding that the Prime Minister should take the vaccine shot in public view.
Thol. Thirumavalavan
VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan resorted to stoking fear about vaccination for COVID. In his social media post, Thirumavalavan said that the demise of the actor ‘has raised many questions’ and added that there is a fear among people as it was after taking the vaccine that the actor fell unconscious. “The government should clarify this. My condolences to the actor”, the Chidambaram MP said in his tweet.
He also urged the Tamil Nadu government to avoid the use of Covaxin, saying that the vaccine had not completed phase 3 trials. He even went on to say that the Indian companies manufacturing vaccines were using people as ‘guinea pigs’.
In an interview to a Tamil YouTube channel, VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan says that he is not against vaccines and that he himself has taken 2 doses of Covishield but goes on to make unsubstantiated claims about vaccines. He says that people are having fear about the vaccines while it was public personalities like him who had correlated actor Vivekh’s death with him taking vaccines. He says that it was the responsibility of the government to address such fears. He also goes on to say that AIIMS doctor themselves have noted that there is a chance of people getting heart attack after taking vaccine.
Seeman
Speaking to reporters during a press meet in January 2021, Seeman went on an anti-vaccine propaganda saying that many of his ‘doctor’ friends across the world have told him to not to take the vaccine. “Corona is not like cholera or small pox. It is working in different ways (mutation). In that case, this vaccine is for which one? What are the after effects of taking the vaccine? They are doing this for politics. That is why I am saying, don’t vaccinate your children. I know a lot of well-known doctors in America, Britain etc. They are telling me not to get vaccinated or let others vaccinate. They tell that no matter what, don’t vaccinate.”
Sumanth Raman
Dr. Sumanth Raman posted a tweet in which he tried to stoke fears linking actor Vivekh suffering a heart attack with him getting vaccinated for COVID on April 15.
In the tweet Sumanth Raman said “If I remember correctly @Actor_Vivek had his #covid vaccine yesterday. Too early to say if there was any link with his illness today. Wishing him a speedy recovery. #vivek”.
After his tweet received backlash, Sumanth put another tweet saying that ‘science is important’
Communist Dr. Ravindranath
During a press meet in January 2021, Dr. Ravindranath, a card-carrying communist who also participates in debates of Tamil News channels, said that the reason the Government of India was hastening the process of roll out of vaccines was to grab the international market for vaccines and help the two companies (SII and Bharat Biotech) earn profits.
Tamil Media and YouTube Channels
1) The above video of Ravindranath which posted in the Tamil YouTube Channel ‘Red Pix’ was titled as ‘COVID vaccine – corporate race between COVISHIELD & COVEXIN’ and has got more than 12000 views. Red Pix channel has more than 1.72 million subscribers. There are so many such videos of Red Pix with click bait titles that peddles fears about vaccines.
2) News 7 Tamil, a mainstream news channel put out a video of a doctor clarifying doubts about the vaccine. Though the doctor in this video says that taking the vaccine will not cause heart attack, the video has been titled “Vaccines cause heart attack? Famous cardiologist explains”. When read in Tamil, the question mark is sure to evoke scepticism about the vaccines.
3) LMES (Let’s Make Engineering Simple) came out with a click bait title for their video “Will Corona vaccine kill us?”
4) Puthiya Thalaimurai, another popular mainstream news channel had covered actor Vivekh’s press meet on April 15 who had taken the vaccine at the Omandurar Hospital. This video was titled “Even if you put vaccine, corona will come.. but”. This video has got 6.8 lakh views. Apart from this, the channel has fear mongered about vaccines various times. On January 17, it posted a video with the titled “52 people in Delhi who took vaccine get side effects”. This video got 5.72 lakh views. On January 18, they posted another video with the title “447 people who took corona vaccine get side effects” which has garnered 2.16 lakh views.
5) Behindwoods YouTube channel had come up with the idea of using a celebrity for spreading awareness about vaccines. In this video, actor Karthi discusses with a popular doctor about vaccines. However, the video was given a misleading title “Which vaccine is good?” when the message has to be any vaccine is good.
6) When actor Vivekh was admitted to hospital due to cardiac arrest, this is what Red Pix posted – “Tamil comedy actor Vivek who took the Covid vaccine admitted to hospital”. The video got more than 1.13 lakh views.
7) Sun News, the DMK family owned channel was even worse. This is what they peddled in the months of January and February:
8) BBC News Tamil put out a video trying to bust the myths surrounding the vaccine. This was the title “Pork mixed in vaccine? Will corona vaccine cause impotence? What is the truth?”.
9) Thanthi TV had put a news titled “Man dies after taking corona vaccine” on April 25.
10) As early as February, The News Minute gave space to an article about a man named Riaz filing a writing petition in the Madras High Court alleging that his health deteriorated and that he had acute neuro encephalopathy days after taking the vaccine.
Today, as Tamil Nadu grapples with the second wave of the virus with people gasping for breath and bodies queuing in crematoriums, I wonder how these people are able to sleep peacefully every night.
The article is based on the tweets of @Tamil_Hindu1
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