R. ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, JAN 1
Tamil Scholar Nellai Kannan has been arrested in Perambalur for making controversial remarks on PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.
The arrest comes hours after BJP’s senior leaders staged a sit-in protest at Gandhi Statue in Marina beach, Chennai, demanding Nellai Kannan’s arrest.
Senior BJP leaders, including former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, party’s national secretary H. Raja and Ela Ganesan and C.P. Radhakrishnan were detained when they staged a protest near Gandhi Statue in Marina here demanding the arrest of Tamil Orator Nellai Kannan for his ‘inflammatory speech.’
They were demanding the arrest of Congress-affiliated orator accused of making a controversial speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah earlier this week in a meeting organised against CAA in Tirunelveli.
Although a case has been filed against the orator – Nellai Kannan – in connection with the “derogatory” speech in Tirunelveli on Sunday, he is yet to be arrested. The police had reached the orator’s residence on Tuesday to take him into custody, but were told that he was suffering from “chest pain”. Following this, they called an ambulance to take him to a hospital instead.
Nellai Kannan has been booked on several charges, including instigating violence between two communities and causing intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, after a video of his purported speech at the Tirunelveli meet against the Citizenship Amendment Act was circulated widely on social media.
The case against Nellai Kannan was lodged after BJP’s Nellai district leader Dhaya Shankar filed a police complaint stating that such remarks amounted to being an “open threat to PM Modi and Amit Shah’s lives”. He demanded that the Tamil orator also be charged under criminal incitement and abetment of murder, which were punishable crimes under the Indian Penal Code.
Party general secretary KS Narendran filed a separate petition with the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police, seeking stringent action against the orator for making remarks that could potentially trigger communal clashes and harm national integrity. He claimed that Nellai Kannan also made derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, among others, in his controversial speech
SDPI condemns the arrest, demands immediate release of Nellai Kannan
In a press release issued here on Wednesday night, the Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) Tamil Nadu President Nellai Mubarak condemned the arrest of the Tamil Orator Nellai Kannan. He also urged the police to release him immediately.
