Chennai: Well-known Tamil orator 'Nellai' Kannan was on Tuesday night arrested by the police on charges of inciting hate towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
On Sunday, participating in an anti-CAA meeting organised by the SDPI and other parties at Tirunelveli in south Tamil Nadu, Kannan had in his speech used certain Tamil slang words implying that that Modi and Shah should be harmed.
State BJP leaders had submitted a complaint to the Director General of Police accusing the local police station of not registering an FIR against Kannan and demanded action.
On Tuesday afternoon, senior BJP leaders, including former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, staged a demonstration in Chennai seeking his arrest.
Kannan had on Monday got himself admitted to a hospital but was discharged following which he had gone underground.
On Tuesday evening, tracking his mobile phone signal, the police located him in Perambalur district in central Tamil Nadu and immediately detained him. A senior police officer said that Kannan would be handed over to the Tirunelveli police – the jurisdictional authority – which would formally arrest him.
Kannan, who is known to practice Hinduism and sport the tilak on his forehead, however, has contempt for right wing politics. At Sunday's public meeting, he used certain words implying that he expected Muslims to harm Modi and Shah.
His remarks had not gone down well even among a section of Muslims who felt that they had the potential of portraying them as violent people.
“We have booked him for inciting hatred and intent to provoke breach of peace among other provisions of the Indian Penal Code,” a senior police officer said.
