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CM Stalin Criticizes Assam Govt For Summoning The Wire’s “Journalists”, Here’s How Dravidian Model Police Suppress Citizens And Political Opponents For Social Media Posts

The Commune

On 20 August 2025, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin took to his X handle to condemn the summons issued against The Wire‘s “journalists”, S Varadarajan and Karan Thapar in a sedition case.

Stalin Decrying The Summons To The Wire

Stalin described the police action as a blatant misuse of Section 152 of the Bharata Naya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with acts endangering the sovereignty, unity, and integrity of India.

Reacting on the summons, Stalin claimed that Section 152 had become “a substitute for the repealed sedition law” to suppress independent journalism. The Supreme Court had suspended the use of Section 124A, the traditional sedition law, in May 2022. The summons followed an article by The Wire on Operation Sindoor and India’s loss of fighter jets to Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack. Assam police issued notices to the journalists on 14 and 18 August 2025, requiring them to appear before the Crime Branch of Guwahati Police on 22 August 2025.

Stalin wrote, “I strongly condemn the action of the Assam Police in issuing summons to senior journalists @SVaradarajan and #KaranThapar of @thewire_in. The summons have been issued despite the Supreme Court granting protection in a related matter only days earlier. No copy of the FIR and no particulars of the case have been furnished, leaving only the threat of arrest. Section 152 of the BNS is being misused as a substitute for the repealed sedition law to suppress independent journalism. A democracy cannot survive if asking questions is treated as sedition.”

However, while Stalin publicly criticizes Assam police for allegedly targeting journalists, his own administration in Tamil Nadu has repeatedly used identical tactics against those exercising their freedom of speech. Numerous instances have emerged where police under Stalin’s government have issued summons or notices without following due procedure, creating a climate of intimidation for journalists, activists, and critics alike.

Arrests Under MK Stalin’s Watch: A Pattern Of Silencing Critics

Since assuming office in May 2021, Stalin has repeatedly used the state machinery to target YouTubers, opposition figures, social media activists, and even farmers – basically anyone. Below is a timeline of key incidents that paint a starkly different picture of Stalin’s governance:

Out of those arrested, at least six individuals were booked explicitly for allegedly defaming Stalin or his son and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. Others were silenced for expressing dissenting views, be it on caste issues, women’s rights, religious practices, or land policies.

Critics argue that Stalin’s rhetoric amounts to hypocrisy. While he positions himself as a defender of press freedom against the actions of Assam police, the reality on the ground in Tamil Nadu shows that similar measures are routinely deployed under his own watch – summons are served arbitrarily, cases are pursued selectively, and due legal procedure is often ignored.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Stalin’s condemnation of the Assam government is a cynical political performance designed to burnish his credentials as a progressive leader on the national stage. It is a narrative carefully constructed to draw attention away from his own government’s rampant abuse of power.

There is a simple, undeniable truth in this saga: Stalin is not a victim of authoritarianism; he is a practitioner of it. He decries in Assam what he enthusiastically enables in Tamil Nadu. His statement is not a defense of free speech; it is an act of sheer hypocrisy, exposing a leader who is willing to defend the principles of democracy everywhere except in the state he himself governs. Until he cleanses his own house of these draconian practices, his sermons on press freedom will ring utterly hollow.

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