00:00Are we now seeing playing out a scam in book procurement in Tamil Nadu at the famous Periyar Library?
00:09Well, allegations of loot have come to the fore and the TVK government has also taken note.
00:14Now, the TVK has said that this is something that took place in the previous DMK regime.
00:20TVK's Rajmohan has condemned this alleged book scam and has pinned the blame on the TVK.
00:27So, the political fight on the DMK, beg your pardon, a political fight that's playing out on this.
00:32So much so that Kamal Hassan has also stepped in saying there's no greater insult to Tamil than this.
00:37Chief Minister Vijay has also taken to social media to slam what's happened and has promised that there will be
00:43a detailed investigation.
00:45This came to light after an author, very famous author in Tamil Nadu, Perumal Murugan, had spoken out about this
00:52alleged scam.
00:53And since then, there's been a huge controversy over this.
00:58If you see there's any other books, it's just about the details of the book and the21s.
01:02Follow the rules of the book to follow them.
01:06That's why the book is about the order of the book.
01:10And it will be revealed along with the details of the book.
01:12The book has been revealed here.
01:12In the year 2018-2011.
01:14In November, the beginning of the month, we made it start.
01:17As far as the book has been revealed,
01:20The book has been revealed to be revealed.
01:22The book has been revealed to the 24-21.
01:23In January of 2020,
01:26I'm going to talk to you about the same news.
01:29I'm going to talk to you about the books.
01:34I don't know if you're going to talk to you about the publishing house.
01:36I'm going to talk to you about the article.
01:37I'm going to talk to you about the other people.
01:44Anaga Keshav is joining us live with good details on this.
01:47Anaga, good evening. Run us through the details here.
01:49While you're seeing a political fight,
01:51what are the allegations that have come to the fore, Anaga?
01:54Is this a scam that's happening now?
01:57Or something that happened to the erstwhile DMK government?
02:01Well, in fact, the primary allegation is that
02:03all of this loot happened during DMK's regime
02:07is the allegation that TVK has levelled.
02:10Right now, it was award-winning author Perumar Murgan
02:13who has raised these very serious allegations.
02:15In fact, what he says is that
02:17I'm a very experienced Tamil author
02:18and I know at what price point are Tamil books usually priced.
02:22It's at the maximum 200 rupees or 300 rupees.
02:25But in a very, very suspicious way in Peria's library,
02:30books, Tamil books are being sold at more than 1500 rupees.
02:34Why is that?
02:35Is this not exorbitant pricing?
02:37Is what Perumar Murgan asks.
02:38And it just gets worse from here.
02:40The kind of books that's being placed in Peria's library,
02:43very, very questionable books.
02:45In fact, the details that is being written and printed
02:48in those books are factually wrong.
02:51Even the chief minister's name,
02:53previous chief minister's names have been falsely printed.
02:56Many, many of those books are AI-generated books.
02:59And even there are just two particular publications,
03:02Agal Vilakar and Phoenix Publications.
03:04And 2000 books have been placed only from these two publishers,
03:08raising all the more questions about the nature in which,
03:12the manner in which books were being procured in the first place
03:15by the previous government.
03:17And therefore, the Tamil Nadu government says
03:19that they are setting up a special enquiry in this matter
03:22to really find out whether protocol was procured,
03:25was followed in the procurement of these books.
03:28It's not just TVK.
03:29Even left parties who usually turned against TVK
03:33have also demanded for a special investigation in this matter.
03:37Okay, Anika, thanks for those details.
03:38Now, as we told you,
03:39the questions that were raised about this book procurement
03:42was actually brought up by a very famous Tamil author,
03:46Perumal Murugan.
03:47He's spoken out about what he saw,
03:49how he unearthed the scam.
03:51Listen in.
04:04Apologies, we'll play that out for you,
04:06that reaction in just a bit.
04:08He is the whistleblower essentially in this particular case.
04:12But a lot of reactions that have come in so far
04:14as Kamal Hassan has also condemned this particular incident,
04:18speaking out on this book scam,
04:19calling it an insult to Tamil.
04:22Now, besides this, Chief Minister Vijay has also taken cognizance,
04:26taking to social media.
04:27He has lashed out saying that,
04:29once again,
04:30TVK stands for Tamil tradition,
04:33for Tamil culture,
04:34for the language,
04:34will not let down people
04:36and will ensure that there is a detailed investigation.
04:39The allegation, therefore,
04:40is against the erstwhile DMK regime.
04:43And so the TVK referring to this
04:46is constantly in fact saying
04:48that we will ensure that there is justice.
04:50A big political fight, therefore,
04:52that's broken out on this.
