“We will not be intimidated by such pressure tactics,” P. Sathyanarayanan, president, New Generation Media, that runs the Puthiya Thalaimurai channel, asserted on Thursday.
Speaking to The Hindu on the afternoon of the attack on the channel’s office, Mr. Sathyanarayanan said the debate that the channel planned to air was more on the issue of women’s empowerment than on religion.
“We wanted to give women a platform. They asked us if we would do the same when it came to Muslims. I’d like to say, earlier, we even had a programme discussing the Talaaq.”
Maalan, the editor of the Puthiya Thalaimurai magazine, added: “In Tamil Nadu, an undeclared tussle is going on, of late, between fundamentalist and liberal forces. This is what we saw with [writers] Perumal Murugan, Guna, Karur Murugesan. They think they can shut down ‘dissenting voices’ by coercing them. I’m not surprised though, the government itself banned India’s Daughter without even watching it.”
