In yet another crackdown of political opponents by the DMK government, Tamil Nadu BJP State Secretary SG Suryah was arrested on the intervening night of 16 and 17 June 2023. He has reportedly been arrested under non-bailable sections.
The reasons for the arrest are not yet clear.
However, sources close to SG Suryah say that he was arrested for giving a statement against Madurai Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Su Venkatesan over the death of a hygiene worker who was allegedly forced to clean a faeces-filled drain by a Communist councillor.
In a scathing letter addressed to Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, BJP Tamil Nadu State Secretary SG Suryah had alleged that a hygiene worker died due to allergies in the body after a Communist party ward member named Viswanathan forced him to clean the manhole.
Suryah pointed out that Viswanathan’s alleged actions, accusing him of instructing a sanitation worker to enter a drain filled with feces, thereby endangering his health and well-being.
He further called out the hypocrisy of the MP saying, “The deceased is a scheduled caste brother! Where’s your red flag! Where is your fighting spirit? Where are your passionate words? If you are against the ruling BJP government, you will come forward immediately. Where have you gone now? Did you sneak out? Why doesn’t your red flag fly against your fellow comrades? Or won’t your red flag take to the streets and fight in support of the Scheduled Caste brothers? Your fake politics draped in red flag stinks worse than the manhole. Find a way to live as a human being, my friend.”
S G Suryah @SuryahSG has been arrested by tn police ! pic.twitter.com/BhplbLBI3c
— karthik gopinath (@karthikgnath) June 16, 2023
பேய் அரசாண்டால் பிணம் திண்ணும் சாஸ்திரங்கள் ! என்ற பாரதியின் வரிகளைப் போல, இந்த திமுகவின் ஆட்சி கருத்து சுதந்திரத்தின் குரல்வளை நெரித்து வருகிறது. இன்று மாநில செயலாளர், தம்பி @SuryahSG
கைது செய்யப்பட்டிருப்பதும் இதைத்தான் காட்டுகிறது.
CrPC 41A என்பது பாஜககாரர்களுக்கும், சாதாரண… pic.twitter.com/uUwNI3fd17— A.Ashvathaman (@asuvathaman) June 16, 2023
This is not the first time that the MK Stalin-led DMK government has cracked down on critics and political opponents.
Since assuming power, the DMK has been going after its critics and other individuals who criticize the party and its leaders on social media.
Other Instances Of DMK Arresting Critics
Very recently, a Twitter user named Saravanaprasad Balasubramanian was arrested for allegedly misattributing DMK to an illegal liquor-producing gang in Tiruppur.
The Tamil Nadu police arrested BJP supporter John Ravindranath alias John Ravi, after he tweeted taking jibes at DMK leaders MK Stalin and Karunanidhi.
BJP IT wing office-bearer Saravana Kumar from Dindigul was arrested for allegedly criticizing the DMK government
Popular Youtuber Maridhas was arrested on December 9, 2021 for a tweet that came in the light of the death of late Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat.
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.
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.
Kishore K Swamy in his tweet had just quoted parts of a writing by Tamil poet Bharathidasan who had written about Annadurai saying that Annadurai took his niece to a wealthy man’s house to earn money.
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.
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