On 13 June 2026, Dr. Ezhilan, former MLA and a familiar face in DMK-aligned political circles, was invited to address students at the Leadership Coronation Ceremony of Fatima Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Kodambakkam, Chennai.
His message to the students was one of critical thinking. Rational sense, he said, was the tool they needed to navigate a world of misinformation. “Virtue – knowledge – compassion should synergise to lead,” he tweeted after the event.
By evening, TANGEDCO had to publicly correct him.
The Post
Later that day, Dr. Ezhilan shared a comparison of two electricity bills on social media, one for 490 units and another for 600 units, implying that consumers were being charged more under the current government. The post crossed 800,000 impressions.
The problem, as netizens were quick to note, was that the two bills compared were for two entirely different consumption levels, calculated under two different subsidy structures. It was not a comparison of the same consumption under two governments. It was, in the words of TANGEDCO’s own official response, a “தவறான ஒப்பீடு” – a wrong comparison.
TANGEDCO’s verified account (@TANGEDCO_Offcl) stepped in to set the record straight, publishing a detailed table showing the actual bill amounts for identical consumption levels under both the DMK and current TVK-era rules:
For 490 units: DMK rule – Rs. 1,742 / Current rule – Rs. 1,507. A saving of Rs. 235.
For 600 units: Rs. 2,880 under both. No change.
நுகர்வோர்களின் கவனத்திற்கு : இந்த இரு மின் கட்டணங்களும் இரு வேறு மின் பயன்பாட்டை கொண்டு கணக்கிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.
புதிய 200 யூனிட் மானிய உத்தரவிற்கு (New 200 Free Units Subsidy) முன் 490 யூனிட்களும், அதற்குப் பின் 600 யூனிட்களும் கொண்டு மின்கட்டணம் கணக்கிடப்பட்டுள்ளது
இதை முழுமையாக… pic.twitter.com/cIYEd6PNCv
— TANGEDCO Official (@TANGEDCO_Offcl) June 13, 2026
In other words, consumers are paying the same or less – not more. The narrative Dr. Ezhilan put out was the opposite of what the numbers showed.
The Irony
X user @Bbt6Viewer was among the first to flag the contradiction directly: “Morning: Dr. Ezhilan visited school & spoke about how to debunk false narratives to kids. Evening: Setting false narrative that EB bill increased by comparing 490 Vs 600 units. At least practice what you preach to kids & Don’t waste their time by talking about yourself.”
Morning: Dr. Ezhilan visited school & spoke about how to debunk false narratives to kids🤡
Evening: Setting false narrative that EB bill increased by comparing 490 Vs 600 units🤡
At least practice what you preach to kids & Don’t waste their time by talking about yourself🫣 pic.twitter.com/9a1qYXDR8P
— KV (@Bbt6Viewer) June 13, 2026
The post spread quickly enough that TANGEDCO’s official response followed shortly after.
The Institutional Question
The Catholic Minority Welfare Society (CMWS), Chennai, has since written to the school’s Correspondent and Headmistress, as well as to the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, raising the matter formally.
In its letter to the school, CMWS noted that it did not believe the management was aware, at the time of the invitation, of what would follow. But it stated its concern plainly: “When an institution invites someone to speak to its children on values of truth and integrity, that person must be seen to live by those values, not merely speak of them for the duration of an event.”
CMWS has also written separately to the Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Salesian Provincial, requesting that clear guidelines be framed around the invitation of politically active personalities, whether currently holding office or not, to school programmes.
The society’s position is not that political figures must never enter school premises. It is that when a school lends its platform to any individual, it also lends its name to what that individual does beyond the school gates and that the events of June 13 illustrate why that matters.
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