On Monday, March 13, four persons, including two members of the Hindu Munnani outfit, were arrested for allegedly assaulting migrant workers in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore city, police officials said.
The arrests came after an alleged assault on migrant workers near the Mahaliamman Temple in Coimbatore on Sunday night. Police reports indicate that two of the suspects who were taken into custody were found to be intoxicated at the time of the incident. They have since been remanded to judicial custody.
Tamil Nadu | 4 people incl two youths from Hindu Munnani arrested for allegedly assaulting migrant workers on 12th March. All accused were in an inebriated condition at the time of the incident. Case registered against all four at PS Variety Hall Road: Coimbatore Police… https://t.co/61yONvUf0v pic.twitter.com/fvm1OtuWdl
— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2023
Coimbatore Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan held a press conference yesterday in which he stated that four people, including two members of the ‘Hindu Munnani’ group, had been taken into custody for purportedly attacking migrant workers on March 12. According to Balakrishnan, all of the suspects were intoxicated during the incident, and a case has been registered against them at PS Variety Hall Road.
How ecosystem tried to disprove violence against migrant workers and project normalcy in Tamil Nadu
The arrests over an alleged attack against migrant workers took place in the wake of a concerted attempt by the Left ecosystem to discredit reports of attacks against migrant workers and project that everything was hunky-dory in Tamil Nadu, with no targeted attacks against people who had migrated from other parts of the country.
Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of a leftist propaganda outlet Alt News and who is also infamous for instigating Sar Tan Se Juda violence across the country and dog whistling against Nupur Sharma, was among those who claimed attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu were misleading and misreported.
IMPORTANT THREAD!
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 2, 2023
There are a several scaremongering tweets & videos viral with a false claim that Hindi speaking migrant workers from Bihar are being attacked in Tamil Nadu. Many news Channels misreported with similar misleading claims. @NitishKumar @bihar_police @tnpoliceoffl
Zubair also published an elaborate thread to project everything was normal in Tamil Nadu and there were no attacks against migrant workers from Bihar.
Several News Channels and Social media handles have made it look it people of Bihar are living in War Zone Tamilnadu, Sharing a few video bites of Migrant Workers from Bihar staying and working on Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu. CC : @bihar_police @tnpoliceoffl @krishnagirismc pic.twitter.com/OysakhsY9F
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 4, 2023
P Wilson, a Rajya Sabha member from Tamil Nadu, declared that all the “rumours” of attack against migrant workers in the state were an attempt to “disrupt the peace & harmony of TN, which is a paradise for people of all languages & religions”.
Vile rumours are being spread on social media that north Indian & Hindi speaking brethren are being attacked in Tamil Nadu. These false rumours are spread solely with an intention to disrupt the peace & harmony of TN, which is a paradise for people of all language & religion 1/2 https://t.co/a03TqHp1GH
— P. Wilson (@PWilsonDMK) March 3, 2023
Several others pitched in, claiming that Tamil Nadu was always a “safe haven” and action should be taken against those who are asserting that migrants are facing attacks in the state.
Severe action needs to be taken on people spreading such dis-information @tnpoliceoffl
— Kiran Kumar (@07KiranKumar) March 3, 2023
Please make some arrests from the media houses as well. Why they want to portray Tamil Nadu in a bad light? TN has been and always be a safe heaven for everyone.
Don’t let this slip away.. https://t.co/4Xnq6JPjUB
Nikhil Waghle, a YouTuber, also endorsed the claims that everything is normal in Tamil Nadu and that the reports of attacks against migrant workers are fake and misleading.
Thread. https://t.co/OAEk5DxuNo
— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) March 3, 2023
Dilip Mandal, a columnist with The Print, praised Mohammed Zubair, whom he credited for debunking the “fake” claims of attacks against Bihari migrants in Tamil Nadu.
Thanks to Zubair for dismantling #fake_news on Bihari labourers being attacked in Tamil Nadu. His efforts led to prompt action by TN police. Kudos to Zubair and Tamil Nadu & Bihar governments for their roles! #appreciation #FactCheck @mkstalin @NitishKumar @yadavtejashwi pic.twitter.com/vtQQ89Ndkw
— Dilip Mandal (@Profdilipmandal) March 6, 2023
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin accused the BJP of spreading false information about the assault on migrant workers during an address on March 9. Stalin went on to declare that there have been no such instances in Tamil Nadu and that delegates from Bihar who had recently visited the state returned completely satisfied with their experiences.
Media reports and allegedly fake videos of attacks against Bihari migrant workers in Tamil Nadu stir a political furore
However, there were allegedly two fake videos in circulation on social media with claims that migrant workers in Tamil Nadu were discriminated against and subjected to violence on account of belonging to other states. The police filed an FIR against individuals for sharing the videos on social media.
While the reports of alleged attacks on Bihari migrants in Tamil Nadu had stirred a massive political furore, with FIRs being lodged against those who reported on the videos and claims made by the alleged victims, DMK’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor released a video stating that the attacks were real and should not be ignored by the Tamil Nadu government. He said that Tamil Nadu police and the ruling leaders of Bihar have disapproved of the incident calling it fake, but the attacks need to be looked into.
It is pertinent to note that a report by the Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar that was published on March 2, 2023, had earlier claimed that as many as 15 people have lost their lives in “Talibani” style attacks being carried out against the Hindi-speaking migrant labourers in the state. However, the Hindi newspaper has retracted that report and now, in its updated version, presented testimonies of the migrant labourers who have said that they are fleeing Tamil Nadu because of the violence that has been unleashed on Hindi-speaking migrant labourers in the state because of their linguistic identity.
