Weather blogger Pradeep John, who goes by the name Tamil Nadu Weatherman on social media was subjected to derogatory, abusive and hateful messages online including receiving death threats. Pradeep took to Facebook on Sunday to post the links of posts which had derogatory and abusive content against him and expressed his anguish.
A social media user by the name Ilango Pichandy stated that the government of Tamil Nadu should arrest Pradeep and Maruthayan, the General Secretary of People Art and Literary Association under Goondas Act. In his post, Ilango alleged that Pradeep John does not have enough qualifications to observe and forecast weather and that he is defaming S Balachandran, the Deputy Director of Regional Meteorology Centre (RMC, Chennai), India Meteorological Department (IMD). “Pradeep John, who goes by the name Tamil Nadu Weatherman on the internet is spreading defamatory information about Balachandran with malafide intention,” the post alleged. The post claimed that Pradeep John is a fake, pointing to his forecast about Cyclone Nivar -- that it may make landfall in Chennai even if there is slight change in trajectory and that it will be stronger than Cyclone Gaja -- which did not come true.
Another user by the name Ramachandran Ramanathan claimed that the government must not pay heed to such ‘immoral’ men, and said that Pradeep should be lynched by the public. Pradeep John had also posted a few links from Facebook which included an alleged death threat against him.
Many users have also accused Pradeep of encouraging religious conversions, though he hardly posts about religion. Expressing his anguish and disappointment at these posts, Pradeep wrote that he is against religious conversion of any sort and has never asked money for church, as accused by one person on social media. “I post and mind my way and even appreciated IMD when they get hard things perfect. In all my interviews I have spoken so support of IMD, even though they look me like an enemy (sic),” he wrote.
Adding that his intention of posting about the weather is to spread the right information among the masses and to ensure that people who are interested get an opportunity to learn something from his explanations on weather interpretations, Pradeep John wrote that he was heartbroken to see such personal attacks against him. “I never requested anyone to follow my posts. If u dont like my posts, u can ignore and move on. I work in Government Company and i make sure with the limited time i get, i can contribute to people that is the whole intent. I am just an ordinary common man. This is just a passion. Very heartbroken to see such an personal attack. Some of the replies are so hateful. People saying that i should be killed has crossed the line (sic),” he wrote.