Tamil Nadu government on Monday requested the Centre to take immediate action either to stop or ban the release of The Family Man 2 webseries on Amazon Prime, saying it depicted the Eelam Tamils in a "highly objectionable manner." Claiming there were "condemnable, inappropriate and malicious contents" in the serial, Tamil Nadu IT Minister T Mano Thangaraj said the trailer released in social media was aimed at discrediting and distorting the historical struggle of the Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka.
"I would like to state that the above serial has not only hurt the sentiments of Eelam Tamils but also the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu in large-scale and if allowed to broadcast, it would be prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony in the state," he said in a letter to Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar. Thangaraj claimed the sacrifices of their long drawn out democratic battle has been intentionally undermined and it could not by any stretch of imagination considered merely as a serial with any value for Tamil culture.
"A serial loaded with insults and insinuations against the glorious Tamil culture could never be considered as the one having any broadcasting value. Branding Tamil speaking actress Samantha as a terrorist in the serial is directly an attack on the pride of Tamils living around the world and no one will tolerate this kind of motivated and mischievous campaign," the Minister wrote.
The trailer of the serial has already evoked strong and widespread opposition from the people of Tamil Nadu and political parties in the state, he added. "While our bretheren Eelam Tamils are struggling for decades to enjoy the fruits of equality, justice, peace and dignity in the island nation, it is highly unwarranted for an organisation like Amazon Prime to undertake this kind of a smear campaign against the Tamils who are builder of India as well as many nations across the globe," Thangaraj said.
தமிழீழ விடுதலை போரில் இன்னுயிரீந்த ஈழ போராளிகளையும், தமிழர் பண்பாட்டையும் கொச்சைப்படுத்தும் விதமாக எடுக்கப்படுள்ள "The Family Man 2" என்ற இந்தி தொடர் ஒளிபரப்புவதை உடனடியாக தடை செய்யவேண்டும் என மத்திய அமைச்சர் @PrakashJavdekar அவர்களுக்கு கடிதம் எழுதியுள்ளேன்.
— Mano Thangaraj (@ManoMLA) May 24, 2021
Earlier, Naam Tamilar Katchi's top leader Seeman had alleged The Family Man 2 web series sought to portray the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as terrorists and Tamils as vicious and demanded that its airing be cancelled. MDMK's Vaiko too wrote a letter seeking the series' ban.
(With inputs from PTI)