Chennai, 17th June 2023: A Tamil Nadu state BJP leader, SG Suryah, was arrested for allegedly spreading fake news on social media.
The party’s state secretary was arrested for his tweet about the death of a sanitation worker in Madurai, who attacked MP Venkatesan for his silence on the issue.
The Madurai district police have denied that the incident occurred in the district.
The arrest has been denounced by the BJP, with the state president accusing the state administration of using the police to limit free expression.
Suryah had written a scathing letter to Communist Party of India (CPI) Councillor Viswanathan, claiming that a sanitation worker from Madurai died on the job after being forced to work in faeces water, which caused an allergic reaction in his body.
The BJP leader chastised Viswanathan for his double standards in forcing the deceased sanitation worker to do manual scavenging while knowing it was illegal. Suryah added the letter to his message on his Twitter profile.
Leaders across the state rose against the move by the DMK government. Tamil Nadu BJP secretary K Annamalai spoke out in support of the leader and added that his only mistake was exposing the state administration’s ‘nasty double standards’.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also condemned the move by the DMK government.
