Tamil Nadu minister accuses DMK of AI-assisted corruption in library book purchases

Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Rajmohan has accused the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government of procuring substandard books from dubious publishers for the Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore. He alleged that the purchases involved the use of artificial intelligence and amounted to corruption.

“For the first time in this country, the DMK has engaged in corruption using artificial intelligence,” Rajmohan said at a press conference in Chennai.

Displaying a purchase order, the minister said the order for books from Agal Vilakku Publishers was issued on February 14, 2026, when the DMK was in power. The order specified that the books were to be delivered to the Periyar Arivulagam library, he said. Payments to the publishers were released in March 2026.

Rajmohan alleged that the previous government had bought books that were fit to be thrown in a dustbin and had them delivered to the library before the Assembly elections in May 2026. He said the boxes were opened only after the elections, ahead of the library's inauguration, and pointed to a June 2026 seal on them as evidence of when they were opened.

The minister also alleged that similar books had been procured for four other libraries that are yet to open: Kamarajar Arivulagam in Tiruchy, Bharathidasan Arivulagam in Salem, Anjalai Ammal Arivulagam in Cuddalore and Quide-e-Millath Arivulagam in Tirunelveli. He said Rs 50 crore had been allocated for each of these libraries.

Explaining the procurement process, Rajmohan said a committee meeting to select books for Periyar Arivulagam was held in November and December 2025, followed by another meeting in January 2026. The recommendation committee had 137 members, of whom 112 attended the meeting, he said. The recommendations were subsequently sent to a high-level committee for approval, which he alleged was secured through pressure from the DMK.

However, former Frontline editor R Vijaya Sankar, who was part of the 137-member committee tasked with recommending books for the libraries, has offered details of the selection process that preceded the procurement. In a post on X, he said he was assigned books under the categories of journalism, mass communication, media and publishing. On December 15, 2025, he received a Google Sheet containing 12,465 titles under these categories and was asked to recommend at least 1,000 books. He said the exercise involved examining the contents of each book, the credentials of the publisher and available reviews before making recommendations. Although he had recommended only 43 books by February 14, 2026, he completed his work around March 8, 2026.

Vijaya Sankar said his recommendations would then have gone through several subsequent stages, including scrutiny by a 13-member book selection committee, price negotiations by a five-member committee and a further review by another five-member committee before procurement approval. He said he had no information about what happened to the recommendations after the change of government and noted that the government was best placed to clarify when the subsequent stages were completed. He also pointed out that the recommendation process involved several layers of scrutiny, suggesting that the timeline and responsibility for the eventual purchases needed to be established.

The minister's allegations come amid a controversy over the books stocked at the newly inaugurated Periyar Arivulagam library and science centre in Coimbatore. Writer Perumal Murugan recently questioned the authenticity and quality of several titles, alleging that some contained fabricated historical information and appeared to have been generated using AI.

In an article published on the Tamil portal Sindhai on November 6, Perumal said he found nearly 1,800 books published by Agal Vilakku Pathipagam on the library's fourth floor. He flagged titles that misrepresented established literary and historical facts, including a book that described Naladiyar, a collection of 400 verses attributed to anonymous Jain monks, as an individual poet.

He also questioned the authenticity of a story attributed to poet Bharathiyar, a photograph of a Nandi statue supposedly found during the Keezhadi excavations, and fabricated accounts of political figures and office-holders in Tamil Nadu's history. Perumal said the authors named on several books and the publishers Agal Vilakku and Phoenix Pathipagam were unfamiliar to literary circles. He also questioned the verifiability of ISBNs printed on some titles.

Perumal is a member of the committee tasked with recommending books on modern literature and literary criticism for the library. He said he had examined titles sent to him online and made recommendations, but was not informed which books were eventually purchased.

The controversy has prompted the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) government to announce an inquiry into the procurement. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay accused the DMK of misusing public money in the name of Periyar and Tamil, while the DMK has questioned whether the purchases were made or authorised after the change of government.

The DMK has pointed to different date stamps on the books, arguing that the questionable titles carried June stamps while books from established publishers carried March stamps. It has also questioned who approved the purchases and who received commissions, and asked why the alleged irregularities had not been raised earlier despite Perumal's presence on the recommendation committee.

Publisher Kannan Sundaram of Kalachuvadu Pathippagam told TNM that the allegations warranted a detailed investigation. He distinguished the Periyar Arivulagam procurement from the earlier Tamil Nadu Transparent Book Procurement Policy and Portal, under which publishers applied through a government website and submitted details of the books they wished to supply.

Under that earlier system, libraries fixed a flat rate for Tamil books based on their size, rather than allowing publishers to quote arbitrary prices, he said. Kannan said the Periyar Arivulagam orders were confirmed in January and February 2026 outside that procurement framework. He called for the government to establish when the purchases were made, who authorised them and how the books were selected.

Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss has also demanded an inquiry by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption and a commission of inquiry to identify those responsible. Perumal has called for the questionable books to be removed from the library shelves until the allegations are investigated, and for the government to disclose the procurement details.