Tamil Nadu Minister for Municipal Administration KN Nehru was seen hitting a party worker on stage in yet another display of DMK high-handedness. The incident was reported from Salem, Tamil Nadu, where DMK workers had gathered to welcome Udhayanidhi Stalin, the newly appointed sports minister.
DMK minister KN Nehru was caught on camera hitting a party worker for the second time in a matter of weeks. During an event in Salem, DMK cadres had queued up to welcome the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin. The line was so long that there was pushing and pulling on the stage, and leaders such as KN Nehru took on crowd control duties.
When a DMK cadre attempted to shake hands with Udhayanidhi Stalin’s, DMK minister KN Nehru became enraged. He grabbed the party worker’s hands first, then hit him behind the head.
A few other DMK cadres also received blows from the DMK minister KN Nehru when they attempted to get close to Udhayanithi Stalin.
Earlier on January 10, a video surfaced on social media showing DMK Minister KN Nehru slapping a DMK ward councillor on the head during a government welfare programme in Trichy.
On Tuesday, DMK Minister for Milk and Dairy Development SM Nasar was caught on camera losing his cool and throwing a stone at a party worker, allegedly over a delay in bringing chairs for him at a Tiruvallur event.
These incidents of DMK ministers publicly hitting DMK cadres have become a common occurance. However, Tamil media and certain journalists attempt to trivialise these incidents by either making absurd interpretations or failing to publish the news itself. When similar incidents occurred during the previous ADMK regime, they made it a point of discussion during prime time debates.
Thanthi TV, a mainstream news channel, reported KN Nehru hitting DMK cadres as “the streamlining of queues by KN Nehru in his own style”, attempting to trivialise the matter. Thanthi TV never stated that DMK Minister Nehru attempted to hit the cadre and downplayed the incident throughout the one-minute video.
அமைச்சர் உதயநிதியை வரவேற்க குவிந்த தொண்டர்கள்… தனது பாணியில் கூட்டத்தை ஒழுங்குப்படுத்திய அமைச்சர் நேரு#salem | #dmk | #knnehru | #dmk https://t.co/rLAw2y2VIf
— Thanthi TV (@ThanthiTV) January 27, 2023
Dravidar Kazhagam, an organisation that claims to be a self-respect movement, or its sister organisations led by Subha Veerapandian, Kolathur Mani, or K Ramakrishnan, have not responded to a series of events in which DMK cadres’ self-respect has been insulted, as they fear losing material support from the ruling DMK government.
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