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Stalin singles out BJP in Tamil Nadu migrant clips row
Stalin’s comments come at a time when the state police have booked several people linked to the BJP, and is camping in multiple cities to detain them
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its “leaders in north Indian cities” of spreading rumours that migrants workers were being attacked in the southern state -- a first direct attack at the ruling party at the Centre over what appear to be a string of fake news and videos spreading online.
Stalin’s comments come at a time when the state police have booked several people linked to the BJP, and is camping in multiple cities to detain them. His position was on Thursday backed by Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (United), or JD(U). Many of the rumours suggested that the migrant workers under attack were from Bihar.
“You can understand the plot behind the fake news spreaders if you noticed that these were done the very next day after I spoke about the need for a united national-level alliance against the BJP,” Stalin said. He was referring to his 70th birthday on March 1 when opposition party leaders – Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejasvi Yadav gathered in Chennai and committed to fighting together in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The chief minister made the accusation while responding to a series of questions under the programme ‘Ungalil Oruvan’ (one amongst you) where, in a recorded video, he answered questions from the public.
Tamil Nadu BJP vice president Narayanan Thirupathy said the cases were being foisted against its members on the issue. “It is a misuse of power and reminds people of the Emergency days,” said Thirupathy, demanding that the “false cases” be withdrawn.
The videos purport to show people being attacked or the aftermath of grievous assaults, but these turned out to be unrelated, older incidents with many being from other parts of the country.
“In Tamil Nadu, people from various states have been living here for a long period,” Stalin said. “For the past few years, many have been coming to Tamil Nadu in search of employment. They have had no problems in any place in Tamil Nadu. But few people created fake videos and spread false news. BJP members from north Indian states did this intentionally.”
JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lalan” too spoke on the issue. “It has turned out that nothing had happened in Tamil Nadu. And just look at the people who have been booked and arrested for spreading rumours”, said the JD(U) chief, referring to cases being lodged against a number of BJP leaders by the DMK government in the southern state.
The JD(U) president had snapped ties with the saffron party less than a year ago.
Tamil Nadu director general of police Sylendra Babu on Tuesday said 11 FIRs were filed against those spreading rumours and fake videos, which suggested people of Bihar origin were being attacked in the state. The cases named Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai, the Twitter handle of the BJP’s Bihar unit @BJP4Bihar, BJP spokesperson Prashant Umrao and Dainik Bhaskar newspaper’s editor Mohammed Tanveer, OpIndia webportal’s CEO Rahul Roushan and editor Nupur Sharma.
A senior bureaucrat who did not wish to be named told HT that Umrao from Uttar Pradesh has been granted anticipatory bail and a transit to report to a court in Chennai before March 20.
The BJP has repeatedly said it were DMK leaders’ comments that created hatred against Hindi speakers and workers from northern part of India.
Its ally and Tamil Nadu’s main opposition has been silent on the issue. On March 5, AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami said legal action should be taken against those spreading rumours on migrant workers.
The BJP and AIADMK combine itself has had a rocky few days, with several BJP workers quitting and joining the latter -- including the party’s state IT cell head. The controversy surrounding the migrant issue and over the wider use of Hindi in government work has been linked to the friction, but both partners sought to put up a united face on Thursday with former AIADMK minister D Jayakumar saying there were no problems.
TN police chief Babu on Thursday said only a thorough investigation into the fake videos will reveal the real reason behind rumour-mongers spreading it, news agency PTI reported. The police chief did not name any political party but said the political angle was among the motives being investigated.
The situation appeared returned to normal among the migrant workforce, the top cop added, but the police is strictly monitoring everything as it is “critical”, Babu told reporters in Chennai.
Special police teams from the state are camping in Bhopal, Delhi, Bengaluru and Patna to arrest the absconding accused in the case, he said.
Along with the city police commissioner and superintendent of police, the DGP had interactions with industrialists in the region, particularly Tirupur, Erode and Coimbatore, in connection with the safety of workers, the official said.
Assuring the well-being of migrant workers, he said protection has been given to their habitats and CCTV cameras have been installed in many places.
(With inputs from agencies)
