Subscribe
Follow TNM’s WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
The Thoothukudi District Crime Branch (DCB) arrested Vilathikulam Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLA GV Markandayan on Monday, July 20, over remarks he made against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay at a public meeting. The case relates to a speech delivered by Markandayan at a DMK meeting in Kovilpatti on July 18 to thank voters following the Assembly election.
During the speech, he allegedly threatened the Chief Minister, saying: "Shame on the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Do you think we are clowns? We will deal with you in the Assembly. Convene the Assembly; if you do, we will not let you leave without breaking your bones." He was responding to CM Vijay's recent remarks saying, "They ask me to speak. If I start to do so, they begin to run. Hereafter, we have to close the Assembly doors before I start to speak."
Following the speech, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) Thoothukudi North district secretary Balasubramanian lodged a complaint with Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police Abhishek Gupta, seeking legal action against the legislator.
Based on the complaint, the District Crime Branch registered a case against Markandayan, charging him with criminal intimidation, intentionally insulting with intent to provoke a breach of the peace and making statements conducing to public mischief.
A police team led by DCB Deputy Superintendent of Police Kannan and Inspector P Janaki reached Markandayan's residence in Vilathikulam early on Monday morning and arrested him. He was taken to the office of the Thoothukudi Superintendent of Police for questioning before being produced before Judicial Magistrate in Thoothukudi, where he was remanded to judicial custody until August 3.
The arrest triggered protests by DMK leaders and cadres outside the SP's office after police allegedly denied them permission to meet the MLA. Former ministers Anitha R Radhakrishnan and Geetha Jeevan, along with Kovilpatti MLA K Karunanithi and other party workers, demanded that they be allowed to meet Markandayan. Geetha Jeevan, Karunanithi, and several DMK workers were later detained after staging a road blockade in protest.
DMK president and former Chief Minister MK Stalin condemned the arrest, accusing the TVK government of targeting Opposition leaders. The arrest comes weeks after former Minister Anitha R Radhakrishnan was arrested in Thoothukudi over his alleged derogatory remarks against Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. He was subsequently granted conditional bail by a Judicial Magistrate court.
He alleged that the government was "hunting" former ministers, MLAs, and social media supporters for criticising it, and questioned why police had prevented the arrested MLA from meeting his lawyer and supporters.
"The basic legal and human rights of the arrested have been denied. Is this the rule of law or Satan's rule in Tamil Nadu?" he said. Stalin also accused the government of selectively targeting Opposition leaders while failing to act against members of the ruling party.
Defending the arrest, Tamil Nadu Law Minister R Nirmalkumar said Markandayan had spoken in a "defamatory and threatening manner" against the Chief Minister and that the police had acted in accordance with the law.
He alleged that the previous DMK government had invoked the Goondas Act even against those who criticised the then Chief Minister on social media, and argued that publicly threatening to "break" the Chief Minister's hands or inflict harm on him was a law-and-order issue warranting legal action.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also backed the arrest while demanding similar action against DMK leaders over their past remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
BJP state chief spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy said the law should be enforced uniformly regardless of political affiliation and urged the state government to act on complaints previously filed by the BJP against DMK functionaries.
