One of the most satisfying defeats on the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly polls is that of the self-aggrandizing, narcissist who thinks of himself as the most intellectual person on earth with no shred of humility. None other than the PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, a man with a feudal mindset who just can’t stop self-trumpeting about his dynastic privilege and GRE scores.
PTR is known to be abusive and was tasked with running the DMK IT wing given that he has a track-record of cyberbullying.
However he’s portrayed as this “Dravidian Model” intellectual with sophistication just because he can mouth a few good words in English.
A case in point being – a journalist slammed DMK leader TRB Rajaa for helming the party’s IT wing that unleashed rabid trolls on political opponents and even journalists. But he gave a free pass to PTR Palanivel Thigarajan saying that the DMK IT wing under him maintained decorum and dignity.
The constant abuse and target of journalists writing critically against the govt was one of the worst downgrades of the #DMK IT wing in the last few years. Beyond comments, spaces were created for discussions to tarnish journalists. Many involved in these trolls and targeted… https://t.co/63XLJ6tW6A
— Omjasvin M D (@omjasvinMD) May 5, 2026
However, Chandra Srikanth, an Editor with the financial and business news website Moneycontrol, quickly pointed out the vile human that PTR is.
Chandra had put out a tweet on 25 May 2022 saying that a top leader’s son is involved in a mega land grab.
“Met a friend from Chennai recently. Apparently some mega land grab going on by one top leader’s son in law. “You cannot sell any land parcel above 5 crore in Chennai if you dont sell it to this guy” The more things change….”, the woman journalist wrote.
Responding to this tweet, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan abused the woman journalist by invoking her caste identity.
He called her tweet as ‘illogical rumor-mongering’ and insinuated that her tweet was ‘usual wage-work for covert agents, especially of certain (thread) ilk’.
Many reminded that the ‘thread ilk’ in Palanivel Thiagarajan’s tweet is a vile reference to Brahmins.
Decorum and dignity…. https://t.co/MZIkX1NRic pic.twitter.com/II6pFkqgij
— Chandra R. Srikanth (@chandrarsrikant) May 5, 2026
This is the decorum and dignity with which PTR ran the DMK IT wing with him being the chief abuser.
That instance in 2022 was not the first time that Palanivel Thiagarajan who often boasts of coming from an illustrious family, having studied and worked abroad, has resorted to abusing woman journalists. He had earlier attacked Malini Parthasarathy, The Hindu Publishing Group’s Chairperson saying that she needed ‘counselling’. This attack came after Malini Parthasarathy shared an article of The Hindu which carried Isha Foundation’s response to Palanivel Thiagarajan’s abuses on Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.
In another instance, Palanivel Thiagarajan when he was the DMK IT Wing head indulged in denigrating a Ramnath Goenka Award Winning journalist Sandhya Ravishankar who had exposed some of the false rhetoric of the Pollachi Sexual Abuse case.
Palanivel Thiagarajan had also unleashed abuses and made personal attacks on Coimbatore South MLA Vanathi Srinivasan who had called out the former for insulting Goa during the 43rd GST Council meeting.
One may have studied in the best of institutions and scaled heights in their profession. But, education and experience must make a person humble. ‘Humility’ is a virtue that every person in public life should have. Sadly, Palanivel Thiagarajan’s behaviour shows that he is not just a disgrace but is also unfit to be in public life.
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