TN BJP state secretary SG Suryah arrested in Chennai over tweet against Madhurai MP

Madhurai: SG Suryah, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Secretary for Tamil Nadu state, was arrested on Friday, June 16, by the Madurai police following a complaint lodged by Ganesan, the district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), regarding a social media post made by Suryah on June 7, targeting Madurai MP Su Venkatesan.

In the post, Suryah addressed Venkatesan and accused a CPI(M) councillor in Pennadam, Madurai, of forcing a man to clean sewers, resulting in his death.

Sharing the letter on Twitter, Suryah stated, "A sanitation worker lost his life because of a communist councillor - Madurai MP Su Venkatesan maintains fake silence! Your fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool, find a way to live as a human being, comrade! @SuVe4Madurai @MaVeWriter."

The statement was made earlier this year on June 7. However, K Kanagaraj, a member of the CPI(M) state secretariat, clarified that there is no Pennadam town panchayat in Madurai and no councillor named Viswanathan, suggesting that the allegation was fabricated.

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Suryah was arrested near his residence in Madurai around 11:15 pm and has been booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1)(b), 505(1)(c) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66(D) (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

The arrest of Suryah has been condemned by the state BJP president K Annamalai and other BJP members, who view it as an act of curbing free speech and an example of the ruling DMK party's alliance with the communists.

“The arrest of @BJP4TamilNadu State Secretary Thiru @SuryahSG avl is highly condemnable. His only mistake was to expose the nasty double standards of the communists, allies of DMK. Using state machinery to curtail free speech & getting jittery for the slightest criticism is unbecoming of a democratically elected leader and, indeed, are signs of an autocratic leader in the making. Drawing inspiration from autocrats, TN CM Thiru @mkstalin is turning the state into a lawless jungle. These arrests will not deter us & we will continue to be bearers of the uncomfortable truth!,” he said.

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