DMK Govt Arrests ‘Voice Of Savukku Shankar’ Admin For A Meme

In what appears to be a blatant abuse of power by the ruling DMK government, Tamil Nadu Police arrested one of the admins of Voice of Savukku for a meme targeting Chief Minister MK Stalin, TN Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiyagarajan, and the recently announced monthly assistance scheme for women.

The DMK government’s announcement of a ₹7000 crore allocation in the budget 2023-24 for the Monthly Assistance Scheme For Women has sparked outrage from all sides, as the money will not be enough to fulfill the DMK government’s election promise of providing assistance to all 2.2 crore ration cards.

The DMK government in Tamil Nadu said that it will roll out the scheme of providing ‘rightful money’ of ₹1,000 per month to women heads of “eligible households” from 15 September 2023, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dravidian stalwart and DMK founder CN Annadurai.

However, the phrase “eligible household” has drawn criticism from a few quarters because the DMK  during the election campaign had promised to give “rightful money” to every woman head of the family rather than the eligible household.

Following the DMK government’s announcement that the scheme would be limited to selected female heads of families, memes, and trolls began to flood social media. In one such meme, the Voice of Savukku handle posted a video of Kavundamani and Senthil’s comedy in which Kavundamani picks ladies for factory work. The meme depicted TN CM MK Stalin as actor Kavundamani and FM PTR Palanivel Thiyagarajan as actor Senthil, attempting to poke fun at the DMK government’s selection criteria for the monthly assistance scheme.

This meme of Voice of Savukku irked DMK cadres. Complaints were filed in several police stations by DMK cadres against the Voice of Savukku Twitter handle. Following the complaint, one of the admins of Voice of Savukku, Pradeep was arrested on March 21st late at night. Pradheep has been arrested in Cr No 52/2023 under sections 153, 505 (1) (b), and 509 IT Act for his video meme.

Several Twitter users, including ADMK leaders, shared the same videos for which a case was filed, trending with the hashtag #ArrestMeToo_Stalin.

Savukku Shankar quoted his sources as saying that the TN Finance Minister PTR Thiagarajan whose lackluster budget is inviting criticism from all quarters was the one who mounted pressure to arrest Pradheep. He further said that Chennai City Commissioner Shankar Jiwal with an eye on the Head of Police Force (HoPF) post, acts like a slave of the DMK government and not as an All India Service Officer. He added that Shajitha Addl SP Cyber Crime CCB made this arrest despite a Supreme Court ruling that arrests should not be made in cases involving sentences of less than seven years.

Reacting to Savukku Shankar’s accusations, TN Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiyagarajan said,” I’ve ignored the paranoia of this fantasist, but this is 100% lunacy so I will react. I had no idea this handle (Voice of Savukku) existed, so have not seen the video, nor complained. When “criticism” of the State Budget by a suspended DVAC clerk starts to bother me…I’ll quit public life”

Criticizing the arrest of Voice of Savukku admin by the DMK government for a meme, Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai said,” Democracy turns into autocracy when powers are concentrated within one family & become a state of dictatorship in no time. The @arivalayam govt is rattled by even the slightest criticism and has demonstrated its dictatorial behavior by arresting someone for a social media post.” He also stated that if posting a troll video warrants arrest, the entire DMK IT wing should be imprisoned because it is their full-time job.

This is not the first time the DMK government has gone after its critics. In December 2022, Tamil Nadu Police arrested an AMMK functionary for a meme targeting Chief Minister’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Sports Ministry. Just recently, the Tamil Nadu police went all the way to Gujarat to arrest a BJP cadre who had made satirical social media posts on Chief Minister MK Stalin and his father late Karunanidhi.

Immediately after the DMK came to power, political commentator Kishore K Swamy was arrested on June 14, 2021, for allegedly ‘defaming’ DMK leaders MK Stalin, Karunanidhi and Annadurai. The arrest was made based on a complaint by a Kanchipuram DMK functionary. In another similar case, Kalyanaraman of BJP Tamil Nadu was arrested for allegedly derogating Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and his late father Karunanidhi.

BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for allegedly criticizing the DMK government.

Dakshinamurthy alias Seethaiyin Mainthan, a YouTuber and a Tamil nationalist ideologue was arrested on October 15, 2021 for releasing a documentary that exposed the lesser known and hidden facts about E.V. Ramasamy Naicker also known as ‘Periyar’ by his followers.

An FIR was filed against Tamil magazine Vikatan, YouTuber Maridhas and political commentator ‘Savukku’ Shankar for speaking against G Square Realtors, a real estate company reportedly close to the DMK family.

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