- 2 days ago
Super 6 debates violent incidents and policing challenges in Tamil Nadu amid rising youth violence and drug abuse, scrutinising the TVK government.
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00:00Let me open this up. Serious questions right now on law and order. What does the TVK have to say?
00:05Akshat Ram, political analyst, Mr. S. Murali Dharan, as well as Mr. Sumansi Raman with us on this edition of
00:11Super 6. I will put it on record that we invited the TVK to be a part of this conversation.
00:16They chose not to.
00:18Mr. Sumansi Raman, I'll begin with you. What do you think, sir, is leading to this situation right now? You
00:24know, I had this conversation with Karti Chudamra where he says it's a policing issue. But as far as government
00:28accountability is concerned, a lot of tall promises were made. Nothing's changed on ground. Why do you think that is?
00:36I think there are two problems, two major issues, Akshita. One is to do with the drug problem in the
00:44state. The drug problem is now much, much, much bigger than is actually perceived to be.
00:52And I think that many of these crimes that we are seeing are being carried out by youth. Much of
01:00it is after trivial fights on the road. Not all of these crimes. Look, the day before yesterday, we had
01:08a sub-inspector who was being killed because he said that the youth should not be bursting crackers in a
01:15way that disturbs the public on the road.
01:17Now, these are not always premeditated gang war murders. Yes, there are a lot of murders which are gang war
01:25related murders. And that's something that's been going on for many years. But there are increasingly murders being carried out
01:34after trivial quarrels on the road, where youth who are absolutely intoxicated or on drugs are carrying out these murders.
01:45And that is something which is not just a policing issue. There is a much bigger problem that has got
01:53to be dealt with. We are burying our heads in the sand. Look, within gangs in Chennai and other places,
01:59the killings have been going on for decades.
02:03So if you look at the breakup of the murders that are happening in the state, this component has always
02:10been happening. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. But the point is, that has been a static number through
02:16the last few decades.
02:18Where the spike is coming is in these kind of, you know, one-off murders where, you know, somebody's bike
02:26hits against somebody's car. So there is a little bit of an argument there. And then they hacked them to
02:32death.
02:32I mean, that is what is alarming. Because, look, it could impact anybody tomorrow. So that is what we are
02:41not seeing being brought under control.
02:44And that is where I think police has to sort of look at how they are going to address this
02:49issue.
02:49I don't agree with Karti Chidamra when he says the visible policing is not there. I don't see any major
02:56difference between the policing in the last regime and this regime.
02:59The same visibility or lack of visibility was there. And I didn't see him make a noise during the last
03:04regime when law and order was, if anything, even worse.
03:07So that is not the fundamental problem. Fundamental problem is people are being killed for virtually no reason at all.
03:14We have an argument on the road and somebody pulls out a sickle and kills people. That is what is
03:20alarming.
03:22Mr. Murali Dharan, at this point, you know, while we have got different perspectives of what's leading to these kind
03:28of crimes happening in Tamil Nadu,
03:29there will be questions asked, sir, of the TVK government.
03:32Six months ago, Chief Minister Vijay spoke exactly about law and order and said that we will ensure crime rates
03:39come down in Tamil Nadu.
03:40Why has the government been unable to do that? I asked those questions to Karti Chidamra as well. Is it
03:44a lack of experience?
03:47Karti Chidamra, I think you answered the first part to yourself, saying that, you know, the TVK spokesperson refused to
03:54come for the debate,
03:55which means they don't want to take those tough questions. And it is difficult to, you know, justify or give
04:01a reason, you know,
04:01this is not normal or normalize the whole situation. As Mr. Sumatraman, you know, correctly and wisely pointed out,
04:08these are things which were like, you know, happening over a period.
04:10And this kind of killing we never seen, you know, on a small, young guy was like, you know, he
04:14was a dog feeder.
04:15And he said, don't burst crackers here because there are dogs on the street. And he got killed.
04:20And SSI, sub-inspector, he tried to stop people from busting, you know, I mean, being unruly on the road.
04:26And he got killed. And these are like, you know, I would say, I will credit all these to, you
04:30know, the changing,
04:32I think probably not even changing, it's a paradigm shift in what's happening in our society.
04:36I think one is, I think, thanks to things like Netflix, which are actually normalized crime.
04:42You know, you go into most of these Netflix series, you know, killing and hiding and, you know,
04:47getting away with all kind of murder.
04:50Sir, you know, I'm glad we're having a conversation about the causes.
04:54This is something that's accessible to youth, to people across the country.
04:58And there are crime rates which are different in each state.
05:00And that's based on really governance, administration, policing, so many aspects.
05:05None of which, it seems, is under control right now in Tamil Nadu.
05:10Yes, Akshita, I'll admit that. I don't think they can give any excuse here.
05:15But the fact of the matter is, this has not happened overnight.
05:19You not see a law and order breakdown happening overnight.
05:24It has been happening even in the last five years of EMK energy.
05:28And probably even they didn't use the stick at the right time.
05:31And we also knew that so many IPS officers were corrupt and amassed huge amount of money.
05:36It hasn't happened overnight. I agree, sir.
05:38But six months now, the TVK government should have changed something on ground.
05:43Everyone said, give them time. Everyone said, give them six months.
05:46They've been given that time now.
05:48It's extremely difficult, Akshita, because the IAS, IPS clan, you have a set of people who can juggle around with.
05:54But you can't change the entire clan saying that, you know, and do it with all their experience, whatever,
05:59and put them in corners and bring in fresh blood.
06:02Fresh blood will take some time to, you know, set things right.
06:05I mean, to go with the existing, you know, government functioning.
06:10But that's been the challenge for, I think, you know, I mean, it's, you know, they're stuck.
06:17They're stuck and I don't think they have great crew on the matter.
06:21Okay. The constant point that comes up, Akshita Ram, is that this has always been the state in Tamil Nadu
06:27for the last many years.
06:29That under the DMK, crime rates were worse.
06:31And that law and order is currently in the state because of DMK.
06:38Okay. Thank you so much, Akshita, for having me on your show.
06:41Let me begin by addressing the first thing that you have said, is that crime rate was, has been worse
06:46under the DMK government.
06:47When the DMK government took power in 2021, the crime rate was 989.5.
06:53When the government, the last available NCRB data is from 2024, which was 655.4, 37.4 percent lesser than
07:02when they took power.
07:03So I don't know where this state, stats of, you know, crime rate under the DMK government is coming.
07:09But let me come to the facts of matter today.
07:11I am sorry, we cannot go, keep talking about crime rate under this, under this government as though it is
07:20separate from this party.
07:2237 people of this party have been convicted time and again over the last six months of several crimes, out
07:29of which 18 crimes are against women and children.
07:32What are we talking about?
07:34So the Honorable Minister, Mr. Raj Mohan, yesterday or day before when he was speaking said, oh, during Diwali last
07:41time, 11 murders happened.
07:42Is this really the, is this really the base that, of governance that we are talking about?
07:47Is your standard of governance being compared to, oh, how many murders happened then, how many murders happened now?
07:52Mr. Mohan, do you want to answer that?
07:54The question that will then come up is whether the government even has an intent, the right intent to address
07:59this problem.
08:05Mr. Mohan, do you want to answer that?
08:07Mr. Mohan, do you want to answer that?
08:08Come again, Akshat, I didn't get you, sorry.
08:11You know, the point that Akshatra mentioned about what Mr. Raj Mohan said about these kind of crimes do happen
08:17on Diwali.
08:18Then questions will be asked, sir, whether the government even has the intent to address this problem.
08:23Are they making excuses?
08:25That's probably the reason, Akshatra, everybody wants the CM to come out and, you know, open out all these matters.
08:31And because, you know, as we know, Mr. Raj Mohan is not that eloquent or diplomatic in his speech.
08:38Most of the time when you give him the mic, you start arguing, I mean, and things which you should
08:44not be saying in the public domain.
08:45And he also gets caught.
08:47Like, you know, he said somebody tried to bribe me for micro.
08:49So there are issues.
08:50There are serious issues which the TVK has to handle.
08:54And there's no denial on that.
08:56But these issues cannot be solved overnight.
08:59It's going to take some time.
09:00That's my feeling.
09:02Akshat?
09:04I am very sorry.
09:07If the Honourable Minister is not eloquent enough to speak, then why is our Chief Minister refusing to speak?
09:13Is the Chief Minister, under whom the Home Ministry comes, who is directly responsible for the abysmal state of law
09:20and order in our state today,
09:21why does he not come to the public and speak?
09:23Why can't he issue a statement?
09:25When will he start talking?
09:26You spoke about drug issue just before this, right?
09:29The TVK Chief Minister runs a marathon against drug abuse in the state.
09:34Five days later, TVK functionary gets caught with 137 kilograms of men.
09:39What are we talking about?
09:41See, we keep talking about this degenerate criminal behavior.
09:44Let's also be very real.
09:45Sir said Netflix is the reason.
09:47This degenerate criminal behavior has been created because of a manosphere that puts Mr. Vijay in the center of it.
09:55Look at all of his movies in the past.
09:57I can also start saying things like this.
09:58But the practical issue at hand today is the fact that law and order has reached an all-time low.
10:04We are looking at eight murders a day, nine murders a day, 11 murders a day.
10:08Today, 30 days since a girl went missing in Chengalpatri, today another girl goes abducted.
10:14They have no leads on the previous one and they have absolutely no clue about what's happening today.
10:18No, the concern is, Mr. Sumansi Raman, before I wrap this up, is that it's more of the same.
10:23You know, the TVK spoke of change when they came in.
10:26This is pretty much how things were under the DMK, that every other day you'll hear of these horrifying crimes
10:31and then find some of them linked to the TVK, linked to the ruling party.
10:36Yeah, there are two aspects to this, Akshita.
10:39One is there aren't, you know, there may be the odd case where there is a link to the ruling
10:45party.
10:46But by and large, these do not appear to be politically linked murders.
10:52They are, by and large, almost entirely either in the form of gang wars or in the form of drug
10:58-related murders and so on.
10:59Yes, there are a couple. Today, for instance, I was just seeing a flash news about a PMK functionary having
11:06been killed.
11:07So, every day something is going on and the silence is not helping.
11:13Look, the chief minister has to speak.
11:16You cannot have a chief minister who simply refuses to address the media, answer questions, take questions, nothing.
11:24So, I think that that is a serious problem which they have to address.
11:27You cannot have one minister double up as a kind of spokesperson for the government
11:33and he himself has not been discharging his duties particularly creditably as far as the press meets are going.
11:42So, there is a problem.
11:44And I think that the TVK needs to understand that what was a problem is now snowballing into a crisis.
11:53And I think that this is going to impact them politically going forward.
11:58That communication, I agree, is crucial.
12:00So much so that the TVK today, when a request is sent to them to join a discussion on this,
12:05they are not part of the panel.
12:06And there should be answers that come in from the TVK on what's happening on law and order.
12:11They take after the chief minister, what do I say?
12:14Yesterday, the minister compared murders on Diwali Day in 2024 and 2025.
12:18I don't know whether you saw that, Akhita.
12:21Minister Raj Mohan said, do you know there were six murders on Diwali Day in 2025, 11 murders in 2024.
12:27That is not what this government was elected for.
12:30Not to be like the DMK.
12:32It's an extremely insensitive statement to make at a time when there's so much concern over law and order in
12:37the state.
12:38And the TVK must answer those concerns of the citizens, which unfortunately hasn't happened.
12:43And it happens response is simply not going to cut it.
12:46Mr. Subhansi Ramban, Mr. Akshat Rama and Mr. Moly Dharan, thank you for your time, for joining us here on
12:52India Today.