New Delhi: In the early hours of 2 February, controversial Tamil Nadu YouTuber A. Duraimurugan had some unexpected visitors at his Tiruchirappalli residence — the central counter-terrorism agency National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The “visit” was part of NIA’s raids at several locations in connection with what is commonly referred to as the Omalur PS arms case — a 2022 investigation under which the Tamil Nadu Police allegedly seized arms and ammunition from an “LTTE-inspired module”.
Duraimurugan, who was in Chennai at the time of the raids, is considered to be a sympathiser of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — a banned militant organisation that, until 2009, ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka. He’s also a leader of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), a Tamil nationalist party founded by filmmaker Seeman and known for its provocative speeches and public reverence of slain LTTE founder Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Soon after the NIA raids, not only at Duraimurugan’s residence but also on premises linked to other NTK functionaries, the party moved the Madras High Court. In its petition, the NTK claimed that the raids were “politically motivated”, done with a “view to arm-twist the party to create a sense of fear among the cadres”.
Duraimurugan, the 36-year-old propaganda secretary of the NTK, known for his YouTube channel ‘Saattai’ (whip), repeated the allegation to ThePrint. He also claimed that both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) were frequently targeting his party because of its political growth.
“NTK and I have never said or written about using arms as a means in our political fight,” he told ThePrint. “We’re a party that was formed to democratically fight for Tamil, Tamilians, our culture, literature, etc,” Duraimurugan said.
ThePrint reached BJP and DMK spokespersons via calls and texts for their response to Duraimurugan’s allegation. This report will be updated if and when they respond.
Despite Duraimurugan’s claims, however, NTK is known to have frequently run into trouble in the state, antagonising both the ruling DMK and the BJP with provocative speeches.
Duraimurugan himself faces as many as 11 FIRs, with charges ranging from rioting and promoting disharmony to criminal intimidation.
On its part, L. Murugan, a BJP leader and the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting in the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said that the raids were conducted “only after confirming that their activities were against the interest of the country”.
“The action shows that NTK was indulging in anti-national activities,” he told the media on the sidelines of a party meeting in Coimbatore Sunday.
According to political observers, NIA’s action poses a “genuine challenge” to the party, which projected itself as an alternative to the two main Tamil parties — the DMK and the rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
“They (the NTK) have separatist and extremist views on issues and it makes it a valid investigation by the NIA to rule out doubts,” political analyst J.V.C. Sreeram told ThePrint.
Also Read: Objecting to PM Modi’s swearing-in to requesting FM’s dismissal — who is IRS officer B Balamurugan
From founding to 2021 polls — NTK’s growth
Seeman, known for Tamil movies such as Panchalankurichi (1996) and Thambi (2006), launched the NTK in 2010, chiefly in response to the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended the year before and which is estimated to have killed 100,000 civilians, many of them Tamil.
The filmmaker sees the NIA raids as a way to “threaten” the NTK. ”They ask whether we send money to LTTE. For a long time, they had been saying that I had been receiving money from LTTE… now they are saying this. (Government) only has been saying that LTTE is non-existent. Then how can we send money to them?” he told the media after the raids.
According to analysts, the NTK has seen a marked growth in the state in terms of vote share, although it has yet to win a single seat. In the 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly polls, when the party made its electoral debut, it polled 1.1 percent votes. This went up to 3.9 percent during the 2019 general election.
By 2021 assembly polls, NTK’s vote share had grown to 6.6 percent — the third largest after DMK (38 percent) and AIAMDK (33 percent).
The party is often the default choice for the people who haven’t decided whom to vote for, or who would have otherwise opted for NOTA, analyst Sreeram told ThePrint.
“Although from the outside, a party like NTK looks like it has no relevance, on the ground, you find that there is a lot of support for it,” he said. “It is probably not getting translated into votes, but there is unbelievable traction for the party.”
Who is Duraimurugan
YouTuber Duraimurugan claims to subscribe to the Dravidian ideology of the Dravidar Kazhagam — a social movement by E.V. Ramaswamy ‘Periyar’ that has sprung up parties like the DMK and the AIADMK.
It was in 2009 — at the height of the Sri Lankan war — that Duraimurugan, then a medical representative, first began to feel drawn to Seeman’s ideology. By then, the filmmaker had even courted arrest for one of his more fiery speeches in favour of the LTTE.
“There was a lot of anger against the then central government and the then ruling DMK government in the state for their inaction during the Sri Lanka Tamil issue. I had heard a stage speech by Seeman in which he was talking about forming a government in TN that focuses on the Tamil language, ethnicity, culture, etc. When the party was formed, I wanted to associate myself with him,” Duraimurguan said.
Today, his YouTube channel Saatai has 1.2 million subscribers and is known for its controversial videos. As the NTK’s propaganda secretary, he uses his channel to attack the ruling establishment, the DMK.
“Social media has become a big platform with a huge impact. We are telling the people about the government’s corruption, about the issues in the schemes, and (also conveying the message that) all those who are talking against the DMK are all being arrested and made to remain silent,” he said. “Cases are filed against whoever is against the DMK with the intent to silence them.”
Accused of rioting, promoting disharmony and criminal intimidation, among other charges, Duraimurugan has 11 FIRs against him.
The first case against the YouTuber was filed in 2018 over a scuffle that he and his party had with the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) — a party founded by former DMK leader Vaiko. Seeman, Duraimurugan, and 14 others were booked for rioting, unlawful assembly, and assaulting a public servant, among other provisions.
In June 2021, Duraimurugan was arrested for allegedly threatening and abusing a man in his hometown Trichy. Months later, he was booked for heckling Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and his father, the late DMK patriarch Karunanidhi, in a controversial speech that also contained references to the 1991 assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in an LTTE suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur.
“You (Stalin) might have learnt from Karunanidhi and Annadurai but we learnt from our leader Prabhakaran (former LTTE commander). Children of Periyar and Annadurai might know how to speak and write, but Congress party men know what the children of Prabhakaran know, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi know,” he said.
According to Duraimurugan, NTK’s growth and its strident opposition to both the DMK and the BJP have made it — and him — a target of both parties.
“We are a party without any big financial background, without any big political advisors like Prashant Kishor or Sunil Kanugolu,” he said. “We have been going directly to the people, not by giving money for rallies, meetings, or votes. These cases and raids are done to create the perception that NTK leaders are derogatory speakers and hope that the supporters we have will lose faith in us.”
In a statement after last week’s raids, NIA claimed it had recovered one laptop, seven mobiles, eight SIM/memory cards, four pen drives, and some “incriminating documents”. It also found books on LTTE and its chief slain chief, Prabhakaran, the statement said.
“Both books were purchased from a book fair in the state in 2021. They are not banned books either,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: ‘Politics not a hobby for me’ — what ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay’s political foray could mean for TN politics