Chennai: Annamalai, head of the organisation “We The Leaders”, has alleged that the TVK government is moving on the same path as the DMK when it comes to handling criticism and opposing views.
In a statement, he said the DMK’s fall was driven by an “intoxication of power” that led it to ignore criticism and dissent. He claimed a similar fear is now emerging, alleging that in the past month alone, cases have been filed against more than 25 people who raised critical views.
He also referred to an incident in which a We The Leaders volunteer was arrested after responding to a TVK party worker who had allegedly used derogatory words against the volunteer’s family. Annamalai said monitoring personal defamation and abusive speech on social media is necessary, but using state power to suppress every critical voice is unhealthy for democracy.
He urged that officials should not be allowed to act arbitrarily in an attempt to please the Chief Minister, and said Chief Minister Vijay is not only a party leader but a common Chief Minister for all people. He called for immediate steps to stop the trend of cases and arrests over even minor criticism and to ensure due space for democratic voices.
