Tamil Nadu BJP state secretary arrested for tweet against Madurai MP

Chennai: BJP’s Tamil Nadu State secretary SG Suryah was arrested by the Madurai district cyber crime police on Friday in Chennai in connection with his recent tweet on Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, police said.

Condemning the incident, the State BJP president K Annamalai said on Twitter, “The arrest of @BJP4TamilNadu State Secretary Thiru @SuryahSG avl is highly condemnable. His only mistake was to expose the nasty double standards of the communists, allies of DMK.”
“Using state machinery to curtail free speech & getting jittery for the slightest criticism is unbecoming of a democratically elected leader and, indeed, are signs of an autocratic leader in the making. Drawing inspiration from autocrats, TN CM Thiru @mkstalin is turning the state into a lawless jungle. These arrests will not deter us & we will continue to be bearers of the uncomfortable truth!” Annamalai tweeted.

Earlier, in a scathing letter aimed at Communist Party of India (CPI) Councilor Viswanathan, the BJP State secretary Suryah said an incident in which a sanitation worker from Madurai, Pennadam Parishad, died on the job as he was forced to work in faecal water due to which he developed an allergic reaction in his body.

In his letter, Suryah lashed out at Viswanathan for his double standards, for forcing the deceased sanitation worker to resort to manual scavenging despite being aware that it is prohibited by law. The letter was attached to his tweet by Suryah on his Twitter handle

In the same tweet, Suryah attacked Madurai MP Venkatesan for his silence. “Your fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool, find a way to live as a human being, mate!” a rough translation of his tweet in Tamil read.

Suryah’s arrest comes after State minister Senthil Balaji was sent to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till June 23, in connection with an alleged money laundering case by Chennai Metropolitan Session court on Friday.