Tamil Nadu BJP State President Tamilisai Soundararajan, on Tuesday, said that she stands by her action of filing a complaint against Sofia Lois for raising anti-BJP slogans inside and outside an aircraft.
Speaking to TNM on Tuesday, a day after Sofia Lois, a 28-year-old student, was arrested and remanded to 15 days judicial custody, Tamilisai Soundararajan said that freedom of speech was fine as long as it was within two people in the open.
“Freedom of Speech can be there. If you and I speak outside, it is fine. But inside an aircraft, in front of passengers she shouldn’t talk like that, right? Again she shouted saying that she has freedom of speech. The way she behaved, raising her fist, she was doing that inside the aircraft also saying ‘BJP fascism ozhiga’. I was just passing her, she stood up and shouted showing her hand like that,” she said.
Tamilisai was travelling on seat number 3, while Sofia was on seat no 8. According to the BJP leader, Sofia shouted the slogan inside the aircraft and later at the baggage collection area too as she had gone to complaint to the airport manager.
Adding that the way in which Sofia behaved was suspicious since she raised her hands and shouted, Tamilisai said that the whole incident seems to be pre-planned.
“You would have noticed that she has tweeted before the flight took off. Yesterday we found out that she tweeted. My flight was at 10.20am and it took off after ten minutes delay. So she has tweeted that Tamilisai is with me and I am going to raise slogans. It is preplanned right?,” she asked.
Thoothukudi Police arrested Sofia Lois late on Monday night and took a case against her under IPC sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 290 (public nuisance) and Section 75 of the Tamil Nadu City Police Act. Sofia has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
Her father, Dr AA Samy, had also given a complaint to the Inspector of Police, Pudukkottai police station, against Tamilisai Soundararajan for instigating her workers against the family and causing them mental agony.
In his complaint, AA Samy said that his wife, his daughter and he were travelling from Chennai to Thoothukudi in the same flight and that his daughter raised slogans in the flight while getting down. He also stated that Tamilisai did not say anything inside the flight and that the issue began after they reached the baggage area.
“Upon her instigation, more than 10 workers blocked our way in the airport and did not let us go outside. They issued death threats to us. The BJP leader also threatened me and my daughter. They also took our pictures without our permission,” read the complaint, in Tamil.
The complaint requested the police to take action against the BJP leader and others who made the family ‘fear for their lives’.
Rubbishing Sofia's father's complaint that BJP workers were unruly, Tamilisai said that she restrained the BJP workers who were with her and gave a written complaint to the authorities. She said that she was arguing with the police official in the airport and not advancing towards Sofia as it was shown in the media.
“My workers were all furious, I stopped them and went to write a complaint. The police official was like ‘illa madam, ponga ponga’ that came out in TV like I was advancing towards her. It is not like that. I am a well-educated person, I know what I am. I know things. I am also a female politician. When she has some rights, I also have privacy and I also have some rights. So when I travel, I should also have privacy right. So she shouldn’t have shouted like that. What I did was correct only,” Tamilisai said.
Justifying her filing a complaint, Tamilisai said that Sofia’s background, the words she used and the way she raised slogans was suspicious and it didn’t feel like an ordinary passenger’s behaviour.