CHENNAI: Former chief minister M K Stalin and Left party leaders on Wednesday condemned the detention of economist and author Prof A Kalaiyarasan over a social media post allegedly not linked to him. They accused the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK govt of targeting academics and demanded an inquiry into the incident.In a complaint to the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP), Kalaiyarasan stated that police personnel detained him from his home at 5am on Oct 28 in connection with a fake social media post. He said he was taken away in a private vehicle, treated like a criminal and had his mobile phone taken away. After a two-hour ordeal, the officers dropped him back at his residence. The incident took place days after he gave an interview to a news channel on inflation.Stalin termed the “arrest” of the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) professor “illegal” and accused the TVK govt of fascism. In a post on X, he said Kalaiyarasan, co-author of The Dravidian Model, had recently highlighted unprecedented inflation under the TVK govt.Demanding a public apology from chief minister C Joseph Vijay, Stalin said he was shocked to learn that police had picked up the professor in a private vehicle in the early hours of Wednesday.“Kalaiyarasan is neither an ordinary person nor someone with a criminal background. He is a professor at a premier research institution, holds a PhD from a reputed institution such as JNU and co-authored ‘The Dravidian Model’, published by Cambridge University Press,” Stalin said.Questioning the police claim that they detained Kalaiyarasan without knowing his identity, Stalin said the incident could not be overlooked. He accused the govt of allowing criminal elements to operate while targeting an academic.“Was he arrested for writing a book on the Dravidian Model and taking its message to a global audience? Or for exposing the unprecedented inflation under the TVK govt?” Stalin asked.He said he had not expected the TVK govt to stoop to such a level and accused it of going further than the BJP in targeting academics. He also questioned whether the action had been taken with the knowledge of the chief minister and senior officials.CPM functionary and MP S Venkatesan also condemned the detention, saying that entering the homes of researchers and academics at night and detaining them without evidence or documents was worse than breaking open prison gates.Questioning the police action over an allegedly fake Instagram page with fewer than five followers, Venkatesan asked why the same seriousness was not shown in protecting the reputation of a research institution with a history spanning five decades.Calling the action an “atrocious approach” by the govt and police, he demanded a detailed inquiry and stringent legal action against those responsible.
