A formal complaint has been lodged online with the Chennai Police against ex MLA of Mylapore and BJP leader S Ve Shekher for defaming Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, and allegedly making remarks that might incite communal disharmony and insulting the national flag. According to the complaint filed by C Rajarathinam, a resident of Chennai’s Nungambakkam on Tuesday, actor-politician Shekher made the objectionable remarks in a video he released in his YouTube channel SVES50 TV on August 3, 2020.
“In the video S Ve Shekher was using the National Flag as reference to counter Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Thiru Edappadi Palanisamy for his statement condemning the desecration of AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran’s statue with a saffron shawl in Puducherry...He referred to the Chief Minister’s statement and compared it with National Flag and was deliberately tried to mislead the general public by making alarming remarks and spread misinformation against the Chief Minister (sic),” the complaint said. The complainant further said that the Chief Minister did not refer to the saffron colour in our national flag in a derogatory manner and S Ve Shekher deliberately misinterpreted the Chief Minister’s statement.
Shekher was allegedly referring to the Chief Minister’s statement seeking action against those who had draped saffron shawl over a statue of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu MG Ramachandran in Puducherry. In his statement, Edappadi Palaniswami had condemned the act and had urged the Puducherry Chief Minister to take swift action and bring the accused to book.
“Further, S Ve Shehkar went on to misinterpret the colours of the national flag and made his own interpretation with an intention to incite communal and political hatred in Tamil Nadu,” the complaint added. Rajarathinam was referring to the portion of Shekher’s video in which he said that the saffron colour in the national flag refers to Hindus, the white colour denotes Christians and the green colour indicates Muslims. “By making such deliberate utterances, S Ve Shehkar has attempted to bring hatred, contempt and excite disaffection towards an elected Government. By attempting to incite communal violence and promoting enmity between two groups by misinterpreting the colours in the national flag and the above-mentioned person has committed a crime by disrespecting the national flag,” the complaint added.
In the video, Shekher also spoke about the state government’s announcement of retaining the two-language policy in the government schools in Tamil Nadu and heavily criticised Edappadi Palaniswami for making the decision. He alleged that the Chief Minister knows Hindi very well but is depriving others in the state a chance to learn it, thus urging Edappadi Palaniswami to reconsider the state’s decision to oppose the centre’s three-language policy.
According to a report in The Week, an FIR is yet to be registered and the police are investigating the complaint.
Recently, the Chief Minister made remarks against S Ve Shekher, when reporters asked him for a response to Shekher’s comments. Speaking to the media at an event, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “... He never came for election campaigning during the Parliamentary polls. We have no obligation to respond to his comments. We don’t consider him as a big leader. He will talk something and go into hiding if a case is filed against him,” he said.