BJP state secretary in Tamil Nadu detained for tweet against Madurai MP

The Madurai district cyber crime police detained BJP’s Tamil Nadu State Secretary SG Suryah on Friday in Chennai in relation to his most recent tweet about Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, according to the police.

Criticizing 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.

A sanitation worker from Madurai, Pennadam Parishad, died on the job as a result of being forced to work in faecal water, which caused him to develop an allergic reaction in his body, according to a letter sent earlier by BJP State Secretary Suryah to Communist Party of India (CPI) Councillor Viswanathan.

Suryah criticised Viswanathan in his letter for his hypocrisy in forcing the deceased sanitation worker to engage in manual scavenging even though he was aware that it was against the law. Suryah posted a tweet with the letter linked to it on his Twitter account.

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.