After lying low for more than 6 weeks following a run-in with his earlier channel, journalist and anchor Madan Ravichandran made a startling come back on the night of September 15 with a video under his new Youtube channel “Madan Diary”.
In this video Madan starts by thanking his well-wishers and his haters for consistently talking about him ever since his disappearance and attributes that as his success. He says that he was not able to go back to his earlier job with the IT company or a BPO or work as a content writer for other media houses due to the defamation suit filed against him by DMK chief MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin.
Regarding the tiff between him and his earlier channel, he says that it would be appropriate to talk about the channel that got 1.5 lakh subscribers only when this channel (Madan Diary) reaches 1.5 lakh subscribers. He says that he would be continuing his expose on the mainstream media and their agenda to work for one party through his Madan Diary channel over the period of time and brings to attention something more important – about a life at stake.
Earlier through Channel Vision, Madan had exposed about Thiruporur DMK MLA Idhayavarman and his illegal deer hunting shenanigans, after the DMK MLA was caught for brandishing a gun in broad day light firing multiple rounds in the middle of a road. The police had seized lots of guns, bombs, bullets when they arrested Idhayavarman and his father Lakshmipathy.
In that video, a villager of the Thiruporur region spells out details about DMK MLA Idhayavarman, his guns and the illegal deer hunting mafia active in the region. He had said that many VIPs come for deer hunting in the regions surrounding his village. He also alleged that the hunted deer and its meat were taken for DMK chief MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin as he ‘loves deer meat’. The villager’s identity was withheld for privacy and safety reasons.
This video had gone viral rattling the corridors of Arivalayam with ‘Maan Kari Udhayanidhi’ trending and Udhayanidhi Stalin filing a defamation suit against Madan Ravichandran.
Since then, the villager has been facing threats to his life, Madan says in his new video. The villager has now come out in the open and has revealed his identity out of fear for his life and the safety of his family.
The villager’s name is Sathasivam. Following his previous interview with Madan, Sathasivam has been getting threaten calls after he had stuck posters in his village about DMK MLA Idhayavarman and his deer hunting mafia to create awareness among the people there about the issue. Sathasivam says that people have asked him to be cautious as there are words going around about finishing him off. Sathasivam is the only eye-witness in defamation case slapped against Madan and. “If they finish me off, this case [Madan’s side] will not hold water”, he says in that video. He says that the DMK MLA has been exerting pressure to the local police station to arrest him under some case. The local DMK henchmen too are said to be exerting pressure on the police officers to book Sathasivam. Now Sathasivam’s village people also feel threatened.
Sathasivam says that he has proof of the illegal buying/selling of government poromboke land. In the previous interview with Madan, Sathasivam had mentioned that Idhayavarman’s family had used their money and muscle power to demolish a Vanniyar community’s marriage hall that was built by members of the community out of their savings. They had sold off the age old timbers and stone pillars used to build the hall for a good price. It is to be noted that Idhayavarman belongs to the Vanniyar community.
Idhayavarman is also said to be indulging in encroaching a lake in the region against which Sathasivam and his villagers had raised his voice. Sathasivam mentions in the video that, the DMK MLA had openly on the call told about getting Sathasivam and his allies killed by having a lorry run over them. He says that a false complaint of sand mining has also been levelled against him for speaking against Idhayavarman.
When Madan interjects to ask about how he knows about deer hunting and Udhayanidhi Stalin, Sathasivam says that everybody in his village knows about it. “I had just mentioned in the earlier video what the villagers and others know and talk about. But I have seen the DMK MLA hunting down deers and loading them onto a truck. I am not saying that I have seen them taking it to Udhayanidhi Stalin’s house. Even their local own party men say that the deer meat is sent to Udhayanidhi Stalin. I just told on the show what other people also say. ”, Sathasivam in his declaration says.
Sathasivam also mentions that a Forest Officer named Venkatesan had called him out of the blue and had spoken to him in a threatening way on the basis of requests from 10 DMK cadres belonging to his area. He says that he thought of bringing this entire issue against DMK MLA Idhayavarman to limelight when he was contemplating about standing for local body elections upon the insistence of his village people. He also adds that he is a local office bearer with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) but did not do it at the instigation of them. He says that he did not bring up these issues earlier because it would be brushed off as a motivated campaign and adds that he saw the opportunity to highlight the issue when the DMK MLA was caught recently as people would now believe him.
Sathasivam has now appealed for the safety of him and his family.
Since the release of Madan’s new video, a new hashtag #SaveSathasivamFromDMKkillers has been trending on twitter.
Madan concludes his video appealing for people to speak about this matter and take it to national level so that it reaches the concerned people that will help save Sathasivam and his family.
Writing a script NEETly
Much has been said and written about NEET, its statutory history and the need for it. It would be a waste of time and space to discuss something that is already available and it is best left to one’s own free will to Google the information. But it is important to bring to attention the mockery done in the name of activism against NEET that is inflicting severe damage on children and their future.
Activism is defined as policy or an action of using vigorous campaigning to bring a political or a social change. Historically, most activism has focused on creating substantive changes in the policy or practice of government or industry. Some activists try to persuade people to change their behaviour directly, rather than persuade government to change laws.
There is also another term which is connected to activism – Direct Action.
‘Direct Action’ orginated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which ‘activists’ use their power/popularity to directly reach certain goals of interest in contrast to those actions that appeal to others. The aim of direct action is to obstruct another political agent or political organisation in performing some practice to which the activist object.
Examples of Direct action organizations are ANTIFA, PETA, Green Peace.
Earlier activism had some real purpose that kept in mind the welfare of all beings. Historic changes have happened due to activism. India wouldn’t have attained freedom without social and political activism and the activists who brought about meaningful rose from the grassroots who had had a first-hand experience of the problem. Today, activism has become a way for useless people to feel important, while the consequences of their activism turn out to be counterproductive for those whom they claim to be helping.
This is a key fit for the letter written by actor Surya. Being the cinema actor that he is, he has written a letter that has all the ingredients of a good script.
The letter opens with the classic ‘porali’ Tamil cinema template. In the opening there is death, suicide, and the horror that NEET is given a good build up. The atmosphere of the letter is set eerie to give the chills. There is the dark forest of COVID, strong winds of motivation and raining sympathy. The important thing was to make sure that the weather remains constant in the letter.
The letter cannot be dismissed as cacophony of words but rather a well-defined plot and structure starting with classic elements of anti-Hindu character by quoting “Manu Needhi” claiming that there exists a villain (read Central government) who has turned off the intellectual pursuits of Tamil Nadu students, immediately cueing the reader that the protagonist (Surya) is your messiah giving the voice to the voiceless.
The protagonist ensures that the content of the letter drives home the point that NEET is a horror story with gothic elements, and that from this point on things are only going to get worse. He wisely peddles it in such a way that the the reader is made to think that he/she is pushed into the unknown.
The script is also garnished with verses from communist and periyarist versions of Ekalaivan episode of Mahabharata and tries to convey that the modern day Ekalaivans will be rescued by ‘Dravidam’.
Actor Surya then tries to strike a chord with the parents by asking why do we have to decide our children’s future with one exam.
But the truth is, parents are aspirational and wish the best for their kids. They are your average people who put themselves in extraordinary circumstances in raising their child trying to provide them with a bright future. Yes, there are parents who exert pressure. Even if they don’t, children are constantly made to feel the pressure to perform in some way or the other and this is not because of one exam. It is a complicated psychological, familial, societal problem and to pin it down to just one exam is outright mischievous. Surya must feel shameful for capitalizing on the issue to build his image.
Having said all this, sometimes subtle words and phrases can be just as effective as conveying fear, horror and anger the letter Surya has written does verbally by shouting and talking to himself which gives nothing but a cartoony effect.