Director Suseenthiran says he’s angry at the money lenders, loan sharks, and the state and central government, for allowing the practice of usury and extortion to go on. The director was responding to the tragic incident in Tirunelveli where a family set itself on fire after failing to get any relief from money lenders.
Suseenthiran’s posted a message on his Twitter account:
— Suseenthiran (@dir_susee) October 24, 2017
In his message, Suseenthiran expressed his anger at the system of money lending, referred to as “kandhu vatti” in Tamil, in which money lenders charge exorbitant rates of interest on informal loans given – often to those who do not have access, or been willfully excluded from formal credit or the banking system.
Suseenthiran said the money lending system was an evil and a unpardonable crime, and called for an end to it. Claiming that the practice was equal to murder, Suseenthiran said that moneylenders are like blood-sucking leeches. Further, Suseenthiran adds that politicians and those in power, who protect and allow the money lenders to operate are worse than the money lenders themselves.
Esakkimuthu had borrowed a sum of Rs. 1.45 lakhs from a money lender, for a family emergency. However, he had paid back the principle and interest, totalling to over Rs. 2.3 lakhs, but was still being harassed by the money lender to pay a further Rs 2 lakhs on the loan. Esakkimuthu had appealed to the Tirunelveli police to help him but allegedly they had sided with the money lender. Esakkimuthu also appealed to the district collector to instruct the police to help release him from the money lender’s hold, but according to reports, the police harassed Esakkimuthu. Feeling that he had no options left, Esakkimuthu set his wife and two young daughters (one an infant) on fire, and set himself on fire too.
While the police and the collector rushed the family to hospital, his wife and daughters succumbed to the burns, and Esakkimuthu himself is in critical condition at the hospital.
There has been silence, however, from the majority of Tamil cinema industry members. Suseenthiran is the first one to issue a statement, while Khushbu tweeted:
Shame bhakts do communal politcs over someone’s death too..If u cannot sympathise,atleast have the humanity to be empathetic for the dead.. https://t.co/YSAxR96mQz
— khushbusundar (@khushsundar) October 24, 2017
Wow..awesome..The family burn themselves at noon n ur so called sympathisers tweet abt it aftr 10pm..Hw long did it tke 2 attack #Mersal?? https://t.co/XcRuAoWnNr
— khushbusundar (@khushsundar) October 24, 2017
Earlier, film producer Sathishkumar had sought police action against a financier for extortion.
