Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has faced flak on Twitter after he termed State BJP president K. Annamalai ‘schizophrenic’ in a tweet on Tuesday night.
Mr. Rajan was responding to allegations made by Mr. Annamalai at a press conference that the Finance Minister did not attend the GST council meeting in Lucknow as he was attending a "baby shower function of his sister-in-law." The Minister clarified that he does not have a sister-in-law.
Responding to a video of the press conference on Twitter, Mr. Thiaga Rajan tweeted, “So…the schizophrenic ‘Kannadiga till I die,’ except when “100% Tamil,” or “IPS - version threat issuer, turns out to be the Fake - News- Dolt- in- Chief”, hinting at the TN BJP Chief’s comments when he was an IPS officer in Karnataka about him being a Kannadiga and his subsequent comments that he was a Tamil after taking over as the State BJP president.
Social and disability activist Prof. Deepaknathan, called out Mr. Rajan’s use of the term as unfortunate. He said using psychosocial disability conditions like Schizophrenia as a tool to label political opponents to make a dig can never be appreciated.
Mr. Rajan however retorted that he had studied psychology for five years as a graduate student. He said he had not used the term on any other politician. “Don’t imagine yourself the guardian of mental illness, crusading against negative connotations when none was intended,” he said.
A few others also called out Mr. Rajan for his lack of sensitivity on the issue and that his understanding of the topic was just theoretical.
