The Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday slammed the arrest of Tamil Nadu BJP's State Secretary SG Suryah terming it an "overreach" and "violation of rights".
SG Suryah was arrested by the Madurai district cyber crime police on Friday in Chennai in connection with his recent tweet on Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, police said.
In a tweet, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "Use of police arrest for tweets/posts is real and total overreach and violation of the right to due process of law and free speech. This was the normal tactic to silence by Rahul Cong during UPA misusing Sec 66A - recently its dynast allies did it like @PawarSpeaks n now @mkstalin to prove he wasn't named after Stalin for no reason."
"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 and intimidation by his "Secularly Dynast" Allies is perhaps what Rahul was referring to on his tourist trips when he says "Democracy is in Danger" n what Rt Hon @jackdorsey was referring to as "jailing and arrest" in his recent interview post his Rip van Winkle siesta," the tweet further said.
"@SuryahSG will prevail and we will fight to ensure he is freed from this type of coercion and intimidation," Rajeev Chandrasekhar added.
Meanwhile, condemning the incident, the State BJP president K Annamalai said on Twitter, "The arrest of @BJP4TamilNadu State Secretary Thiru @SuryahSG is highly condemnable. His only mistake was to expose the nasty double standards of the communists, allies of DMK."
"Using state machinery to curtail free speech and 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.
Earlier, in a scathing letter aimed at Communist Party of India (CPI) Councilor Viswanathan, the BJP State Secretary Suryah said an incident in which a sanitation worker from Madurai, Pennadam Parishad, died on the job as he was forced to work in faecal water due to which he developed an allergic reaction in his body.
In his letter, Suryah lashed out at Viswanathan for his double standards, and for forcing the deceased sanitation worker to resort to manual scavenging despite being aware that it is prohibited by law. The letter was attached to his tweet by Suryah on his Twitter handle.
In the same tweet, Suryah attacked Madurai MP Venkatesan for his silence. "Your fake politics of separatism stinks worse than that cesspool, find a way to live as a human being, mate!" a rough translation of his tweet in Tamil read.
Suryah's arrest comes after State Minister Senthil Balaji was sent to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till June 23, in connection with an alleged money laundering case by the Chennai Metropolitan Session court on Friday.
