DMK councillor booked over alleged derogatory remarks against Vijay

• Chennai police have booked DMK councillor Sudha Deenadayalan and event organiser Muralidharan over alleged derogatory remarks against chief minister C. Joseph Vijay.

• TVK condemned the speech and demanded an apology from senior DMK leaders who were present at the event.

• The DMK said Kanimozhi and P.K. Sekar Babu reprimanded the councillor; no arrests have been made.

Police have registered a case against DMK councillor Sudha Deenadayalan and party functionary Muralidharan over alleged derogatory remarks against Tamil Nadu chief minister C. Joseph Vijay at a party event, intensifying a political row between the opposition DMK and ruling TVK.

Deenadayalan, a Chennai Corporation ward councillor and the DMK’s Chennai East district women’s wing organiser, allegedly made the remarks during an event on 7 October. Muralidharan organised the programme, police said on Tuesday.

Greater Chennai City Police said action followed a complaint from TVK Harbour area secretary Udayakumar, who sought proceedings against both individuals. Police described the alleged speech as aimed at inciting public disorder. No arrests have been made.

Video clips circulating on social media purportedly show Deenadayalan using abusive language and making personal comments about Vijay’s appearance and age while defending DMK president M.K. Stalin against his criticism.

DMK deputy general secretary and MP Kanimozhi, former minister P.K. Sekar Babu and Chennai mayor R. Priya were present at the programme.

TVK leaders criticised the speech as a breach of political decorum and demanded an official apology from the senior DMK figures who shared the stage.

TVK general secretary and Public Works and Sports Development Minister Aadhav Arjuna accused the DMK of allowing its political platforms to become venues for personal abuse.

He also questioned Stalin’s silence, asking whether the former chief minister was ignoring such remarks or encouraging them.

Arjuna criticised Priya’s apparent amusement during the speech and Kanimozhi’s failure to intervene publicly. He called for legal action against Deenadayalan, arguing that abusive political exchanges should be stopped to protect democratic debate.

The DMK responded by circulating a video which, it said, showed Kanimozhi and Sekar Babu reprimanding the councillor after the programme and asking her to maintain decorum.

Kanimozhi later said politicians should not allow their opponents’ behaviour to determine their own standards of conduct.

In her address at the event, she invoked the ideological foundations of the Dravidian movement, referring to social reformer E.V. Ramasamy, known as Periyar, and former chief ministers C.N. Annadurai and M Karunanidhi.

She argued that the DMK’s political identity was rooted in that heritage and did not require validation from, or fear competition with, newly formed parties.

Kanimozhi also criticised the quality of debate in the assembly, alleging that the ruling party avoided answering opposition questions and instead treated legislative proceedings as material for social media performances.

With PTI inputs