Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu): A 22-year-old student studying in Canada was arrested and remanded in 15 days judicial custody on charges of raising slogans against the BJP in front of the party’s state unit chief, Tamilisai Soundararajan, on board a domestic flight Monday.
Soon after the BJP leader and the student arrived at the airport’s arrival lounge here from Chennai, a quarrel ensued, which was caught on a camera following which a complaint was lodged with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the airline concerned.
In the video, Tamilisai can be heard telling the student and the people who gathered at the lounge that a flight was no place to raise slogans.
“It (inside of a flight) is not a public forum….how can you expect me to keep mum when she shouts ‘down with BJP’s fascist government’ looking at me? Is it freedom of expression?” she asked.
The woman is said to be a student at a Canada University and she is on a visit to her native district here.
Later speaking to reporters, Tamilisai said that the manner in which the student was shouting slogans she felt that there was a threat to her life.
The TN BJP chief said when she asked the woman (on arrival at the lounge) if it was appropriate to raise slogans inside a flight, the student started shouting that she had freedom of expression.
The BJP leader said she has lodged a complaint with police, adding they should enquire if some outfit was behind the student’s action. “The words the student used is not expected of an ordinary passenger,” she said.
DMK chief M K Stalin, meanwhile, in a tweet said he too would say that “Down with BJP’s fascist regime”, and asked how many people would the government be able to arrest. He said the student must be released forthwith.
The student was reportedly arrested, but there was no official confirmation.
PTI
