Tamil Nadu CM Stalin praises children for Periyar skit on TV talent show

The skit starts with a schoolgirl informing her mother of an elocution competition whose topic is Periyar. She asks her mother who Periyar is, and the mother says Periyar was the man who said everyone is equal, the one who spearheaded an anti-liquor campaign and also one reason why women are able to go to work. The skit then takes the audience to 1948, where a child dressed as Periyar speaks about subjects such as women’s empowerment, education and eradication of caste. The skit then shows the girl delivering a speech about Periyar in the competition.

The Zee Thamizh channel’s Junior Super Stars Season 4 show last month hit headlines when the state BJP sought an apology from the channel for a skit aired on January 14 and also petitioned the information and broadcast ministry against it. In a letter addressed to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited, the party had taken exception to certain remarks about Modi’s attire, his official visits to various countries as well as his government’s demonetization and disinvestment initiatives. The party also sought to remind the channel that the show had sent “a wrong message about what it stands for nationally”.

CTR Nirmal Kumar, the BJP’s state president for information technology and social media, claimed that these subjects were foisted on children who didn’t understand them. “Throughout the skit, the judges, anchors and mentors were seen encouraging the same without any kind of inhibition. This sends a wrong message about the channel in Tamil Nadu and what it stands for nationally,” he said.