DMK Minister Faces Police Case Over 'Derogatory' Remarks Against PM Modi

The Tuticorin police in Tamil Nadu have filed a case against state Fisheries Minister Anitha R Radhakrishnan for his alleged derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Aren't you those who wanted to kill Kamaraj when he was sleeping," the minister was heard saying in a video in an apparent response to PM Modi, who had invoked Congress icon K Kamaraj at a rally.

NDTV couldn't independently verify the video featuring the minister.

"We have booked the minister under section 294B (using obscene words in public), based on a complaint by a BJP functionary," an officer from the Meignanapuram Police Station told NDTV.

The state BJP has also written to the Election Commission for action against the minister.

Sharing the video on X, BJP state Chief Annamalai said, "DMK leaders have reached a new low in their uncouth behaviour by passing vile comments & unpardonable public discourse against our Hon PM".

"DMK MP Smt Kanimozhi avl was on the stage and did not bother to stop her colleague," he added.

K Kamaraj, a former chief minister of the erstwhile Madras State, was a Congress icon from Tamil Nadu. PM Modi had invoked Kamaraj at an election rally in Salem last week, saying his honesty and revolutionary schemes like mid-day meals have been big inspiration for him.

Targeting the Prime Minister, DMK's Anitha R Radhakrishnan is heard saying in the video, "You speak as if Kamaraj hugged you."

The DMK is yet to respond to the charges.

Mr Radhakrishnan is not alien to controversies. A newspaper ad commissioned by him, hailing the creation of a second launch pad for India's space agency, had sparked a furious row last month. The ad had an image of the Chinese flag prominently on the rocket in the poster.