Tamil Nadu BJP's SG Suryah arrested; Union minister's dig at Rahul Gandhi, Jack Dorsey

 SG Suryah had accused Madurai MP Su Venkatesan of not taking adequate action following the death of a hygiene worker after he was made to clean a drain.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu secretary SG Suryah was arrested by the Madurai district’s cyber crime police on Friday night in connection with his recent tweet against MP Su Venkatesan, drawing criticism from Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and state president K Annamalai.

In the tweet, Suryah had accused Venkatesan of not taking adequate action following the death of a hygiene worker after he was made to clean a drain filled with faeces. In a letter to Venkatesan, Suryah had strongly criticised the incident.

“Your fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool, find a way to live as a human being, mate!” tweeted Suryah.

Describing the arrest of Suryah as “highly condemnable”, Annamalai alleged that 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!” Annamalai tweeted.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the use of police arrest for tweets is “REAL & TOTAL overreach n violation of right to due process of law n free speech”.

“This was the normal tactic to silence by Rahuls Cong during UPA misusing Sec66A - recently its dynast allies too hv done it like @PawarSpeaks n now @mkstalin to prove he wasnt named after Stalin for no reason,” the Union minister tweeted.

"Those Free speech ‘activists’ who jump around at drop of hat must not remain silent now or be branded hypocrites. This type of threat to democracy n intimidation by his 'Secularly Dynast' Allies is perhaps what Rahul was referring to on his tourist trips whn he says ‘Democracy is in Danger’ n what Rt Hon @jack dorsey was referring to as 'jailing n arrest' in his recent interview post his Rip van Winkle siesta. @SuryahSG is being threatened for questioning the death of a sanitation worker who was forced to work in perilous circumstances - He will prevail n we will fight to ensure he is freed from this type of coersion n intimidation," Chandrasekhar added.

What did SG Suryah write?

Questioning the silence of Venkatesan over the incident, Suryah had said, “Madurai Pennadam town panchayat 12th ward councillor Viswanathan had forced the worker to undertake the job after which the worker got infected and died. The hypocritical politics of the MP stinks.”

“The deceased is a scheduled caste brother! Where’s your red flag! Where is your fighting spirit? Where are your passionate words? If you are against the ruling BJP government, you will come forward immediately. Where have you gone now? Did you sneak out? Why doesn’t your red flag fly against your fellow comrades? Or won’t your red flag take to the streets and fight in support of the Scheduled Caste brothers? Your fake politics draped in red flag stinks worse than the manhole. Find a way to live as a human being, my friend.” Suryah further added.

The Madurai Urban unit of the CPM had filed a police complaint accusing Surya of maligning the image of Venkatesan on social media, and demanded action against him.