In a courtroom that demands decorum, integrity, and intellectual rigor, senior counsel P. Wilson’s defense of Tamil Nadu Forest Minister K. Ponmudy’s vile hate speech was nothing short of a disgrace. Representing the State in the Madras High Court on April 23, 2025, Wilson didn’t just fumble the ball—he spiked it into the gutter, trading legal acumen for the kind of cheap, divisive drivel you’d expect from a two-bit DMK troll on X.
DMK Minister Ponmudy’s Hate Speech Against Hindus
Let’s set the context. A man who owes his freedom and cabinet post to a Supreme Court stay on his corruption conviction, stands accused of delivering a speech so repugnant it targeted Saivites, Vaishnavites, and women with obscene, hate-fueled venom. The Madras High Court, led by Justice N. Anand Venkatesh, was rightfully appalled—not just at the speech, which likened sacred religious symbols to sexual postures described by a sex worker, but at the Tamil Nadu police’s inexplicable failure to register a First Information Report (FIR) despite three complaints. The court’s directive to take up a suo motu writ petition was a clarion call for accountability. Enter P. Wilson, to douse that call with a bucket of absurdity.
Wilson’s defense was a masterclass in evasion. He claimed the police, after reviewing the complaints, found no offense in Ponmudy’s speech. No offense? This is a speech that Justice Venkatesh himself described as “obscene,” “demeaning the moral worth of sex workers,” and “calculated to subvert the harmony and peace among religious groups.” It’s a speech that wounded the religious sentiments of millions and mocked the dignity of women. Yet, Wilson, with the audacity of a man who thinks the court is as gullible as a DMK WhatsApp group, argued it didn’t cross the line. One wonders if he even watched the video clip circulating on social media or if he just copy-pasted his talking points from a party memo.
Senior Counsel Or A Two-Bit Troll?
But Wilson didn’t stop at gaslighting the court. He took a page straight out of the troll handbook, sneering about “Sanghis” prejudicing the judiciary’s mind. Yes, you read that right. A senior counsel, in a High Court, resorted to flinging playground insults, implying some shadowy RSS conspiracy was behind the case. This wasn’t an argument; it was a tantrum. It’s the kind of lazy, baseless accusation you’d scroll past on X, posted by an anonymous handle with a EVR quote in their bio. To hear it in a courtroom, from a so-called “senior counsel” and a sitting MP, is ridiculous. The judiciary deserves better than conspiracy theories that sound like they were scribbled on the back of a DMK pamphlet.
Wilson’s attempt to deflect blame by pointing to dismissed writ petitions in the Madurai Bench and a pending public interest litigation was equally pathetic. It’s as if he thought the court wouldn’t notice the glaring issue: the Tamil Nadu police, under DMK’s thumb, have been dragging their feet, ignoring the Supreme Court’s 2014 directive to act swiftly against hate speech. Justice Venkatesh called this inaction “distressing and unfortunate,” a polite way of saying the police are either incompetent or complicit. Wilson’s job was to explain this failure, not to shrug it off like a social media warrior dodging a tough reply.
Perhaps the most infuriating part of Wilson’s performance was his insinuation that the video of Ponmudy’s speech was “truncated” and taken out of context. Oh, please. The minister himself issued a public apology—albeit a half-hearted one—for the “truncated portion,” and his party demoted him from Deputy General Secretary. If the speech was so defensible, why the apology? Why the demotion? Wilson’s attempt to spin this as a misunderstanding is the kind of intellectual dishonesty that thrives in echo chambers, not courtrooms. It’s a tactic ripped from the DMK’s social media playbook: when caught, cry “misrepresentation” and hope the outrage fizzles out.
Shame On Wilson
Let’s be clear: P. Wilson isn’t some random keyboard warrior. He’s a senior counsel, a former Additional Solicitor General, and a man entrusted with representing the State in matters of grave public importance. His job is to uphold the law, not to parrot party propaganda. Yet, in this case, he chose to debase himself, wielding the same tired tropes—Sanghi conspiracies, truncated videos—that DMK’s online trolls churn out daily. It’s a fall from grace that’s as pathetic as it is infuriating.
The Madras High Court, to its credit, saw through the nonsense. Justice Venkatesh’s insistence on zero tolerance for hate speech and his referral of the matter to Chief Justice K.R. Shriram signal a judiciary that won’t be swayed by political posturing. But Wilson’s antics are a stark reminder of how far the DMK will go to shield its own, even when their actions tear at the fabric of Tamil Nadu’s social harmony. Ponmudy’s speech wasn’t just offensive; it was a deliberate provocation, and Wilson’s defense was a deliberate distraction.
Tamil Nadu deserves better. Its people—Saivites, Vaishnavites, women, and everyone else targeted by Ponmudy’s bile—deserve a legal system that doesn’t cower before political clout. They deserve advocates who argue with facts, not fanboy rhetoric. P. Wilson chose to play the troll, and in doing so, he didn’t just fail the court—he failed the public. Shame on him.
Vallavaraayan is a political writer.
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