A statement by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko against the scheduled telecast of an interview of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thanthi TV led to an attack on the offices of Daily Thanthi in Vepery on Monday.
The attack drew strong condemnation from journalist unions, which dubbed it as a crude attempt to the press.
In a statement, Mr. Vaiko, calling for cancellation of the telecast, said the interview would be used by the Sinhala propaganda machine to paint a positive picture of Mr. Rajapaksa ahead of the elections in the island nation. While Mr. Vaiko called for protests, VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan appealed to Thanthi TV to call off the telecast.
At 4.30 p.m., about 150 protesters gathered outside the Daily Thanthi office and raised slogans. Stones were also pelted at the building and tubelights hurled at the premises near the office of the Commissioner of Police. The protesters were detained. A few minutes before the incident, Mr. Vaiko garlanded the statue of the newspaper’s founder, S.B. Adithanar, and spoke, condemning the interview. He said the organisation founders would not have approved of the decision of the channel. However, the news channel went ahead with the telecast at 8 p.m.
BJP condemns attackCondemning the attack, BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan said the press could not be asked not to do interviews. Rather than protesting through violent means, the protesters should have expressed their views democratically. At the same time, media houses should also use discretion in content.
