Netizens question Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin for meeting Youtubers and influencers

The social media influencers met the Chief Minister and handed him over a cheque of Rs 23 lakhs which they had crowdsourced for an oxygen plant at a government hospital.

Image courtesy: ANI

Chennai: Popular netizens, political analysts and common people in Tamil Nadu have raised questions at Chief Minister MK Stalin for meeting some Youtubers and Social media influencers who gained popularity by making vulgar, hate-mongering and abusive content particularly targeted at women. 

According to the social media influencers, they had met the Chief Minister for handing over a cheque of Rs 23 lakhs, funds which they had crowdsourced for an oxygen plant at a government hospital. 

Netizens lashed out at the vulgar content that they had been propagating on social media, in order to earn money and gain popularity. Several users shared videos of a particular duo who had unabashedly made videos that poked fun and laughter at heinous crimes like gang rape, abuse of women, incest etc. While these videos have been deleted from youtube, many of these offensive clips are still doing the rounds. 

Most of their videos had direct references to male and female genitalia in the most vulgar manner possible and had used extremely lewd language that can’t be presented in print. 

Sharing a picture of the meeting with Youtubers and influencers, activist and lawyer Kasturi Shankar had questioned if it was an attempt to recruit new-gen theepori arumugams (a reference to a controversial and vulgar speaker who had made speeches against a Woman Chief Minister). She added that it was obvious that the Chief Minister doesn’t really know some of those YouTubers. “It is one thing for DMK to promote rubbish, quite another for the state CM to do it” read a portion of Kasturi's tweet.

Is this CM Stalin's effort to appear updated and media savvy? Or is it a recruitment for new-gen theepori arumugams?
It is obvious @mkstalin doesn't really know some of these guys. It is one thing for DMK to promote rubbish, quite another for the state CM to do it. pic.twitter.com/8kSReT8cP4 — Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) October 14, 2021

An ousted journalist with a dubious reputation, who is presently a Youtuber with a reputation for hate-mongering had also met the Chief Minister and presented a book with a cover that showed the map of India burning in a fire-altar. 

The book is titled “Veda fanatic India”, referring to the ancient Indian religious texts that are composed in Sanskrit. The Vedas, (which mean knowledge in English)) are a compilation of four scriptures, which are the oldest scriptures in Hinduism. 

The cover of the book featured a hate caricature targeted at the Brahmin community, which the DMK and its leaders have also made hate speeches against.

Referring to the picture of the Youtuber who presented the controversial book to the Chief Minister, Sumanth C Raman had asked if no one in the Chief Minister’s office screened what books are presented to MK Stalin.

Does no one in the CM Office screen what books are presented to @mkstalin ? This thread... https://t.co/LElXJuuBZw — Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) October 13, 2021

An anonymous Twitter user that goes by the name Reality Check India had lamented that such books continued to be written in Tamil Nadu and in the Tamil language. 

Forget for a moment that a CM of a major state which in a modern democracy can even accept such a hate book with a cover like this. That even such books continue to be written in a nook of the world - in Tamil. pic.twitter.com/eGKSNtyvQR — Reality Check India (@realitycheckind) October 13, 2021

Certain users had pointed out that the YouTubers were the ones who spoke the truth and asked questions. They also defended the YouTubers saying they were donating for a noble cause and questioned if Kasturi Shankar had done anything similar. 

To this, the actor responded and asked how gang rape jokes and lewd and abusive language were connected with the truth. "Would the Chief Minister pose with (notorious terrorists such as) Bin Laden and Dawood Ibrahim, if they donated money? Posing with anyone and everyone who gives money may be normal for you, but it is not so for me" read her tweet in Tamil.