Former journalist and political advisor with the US consulate R. Natarajan, whose critical comments against the government allegedly cost his half-namesake and former DGP R Natraj his membership in the AIADMK, on Sunday stood by the comments he made to a Tamil TV news channel. He vouched that the TV channel had wrongly used the image of the former DGP while telecasting a phone-in with him. Recalling the episode on Saturday, he said he was called by someone from the channel by 7.45 a.m. and asked to join a current affairs show on floods by 8.15 a.m.
“I was introduced as a senior journalist and author and was asked for my comments. When I spoke I could see the photo of Mr. R. Nataraj, retired DGP on the screen. I thought perhaps he too had joined the show. But later someone from the channel called and apologised to me saying his photo was shown wrongly,” he said. Asked about his comments, Mr. Natarajan said that his comments were a harsh criticism of the government. “I said that usually officials down the line take instructions from IAS officers and they, in turn, from the Chief Secretary. But, now the Chief Secretary must take instructions from an advisor to the Chief Minister, who awaited for the nod of the Chief Minister, due to which the floods occurred in a flash,” he said. “They asked me to compare the 2004 tsunami and the 2015 floods, and I said during the tsunami officials were on the move and they took initiatives, which was not the case in 2015 because of the fear complex,” he added. On Sunday morning, someone told me that action had been taken against Mr. Natraj, which is unfortunate.