BJP Leader Arrested in Tamil Nadu over Facebook Post, State Unit Calls it Political Vendetta

Chennai: An IT wing official of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu was arrested by the Trichy city Police on Monday morning at around 5.45 am following his controversial post on social media platform Facebook. Pugazh, who is a BJP functionary posts regularly on various social media platforms regarding several issues. On Sunday, the BJP neta had put out a post on his Facebook page regarding a late social leader Pazhani Babu.

Pazhani Babu was a former Muslim leader and was an active socialist who had taken part in several agitations in the state during his time. He was later murdered in year 1997 on 28th of January. As Sunday marked his death anniversary, the BJP functioned took his Facebook page where he thanked and felt grateful for those who murdered him. His post, that was in Tamil stated that, “Today is the day, a poisonous virus called Pazhani Babu was eradicated. Had he lived today, one cannot even imagine the kind of terrorist activities that would have taken place in Tamil Nadu today. Today is the day he was murdered. I am extending my extreme gratitude and namaskaras to ‘our golden people’ who took him away from this world”.

Following this post that sparked a controversy in the state, the Uraiyur police immediately registered a case as soon as it was brought to their knowledge. He was booked under 3 sections including 153, 505(a) and 505(b) under the IPC for creating enmity between two groups.

The Tamil Nadu BJP has strongly condemned the arrest and are stating that this is purely intentional as DMK has been continuously targeting the BJP functionaries. TN BJP IT Wing Secretary Karthik Gopinath said, “There are so many people who are speaking so abusively and aggressively on various social media platforms. Yet only people from our party are being targeted and arrested. What is very agonising is that Pugazh has been suffering from a knee disorder and has been undergoing treatment. Yet, the police and the medical team ignored the signs, which is extremely shocking and unacceptable”.

Pugazh was produced before the district magistrate and has been sent to judicial remand following the arrest on Monday.