Tamil Nadu BJP President Tamizhisai Soundarrajan and actor SVe Shekher, who is also a member of the party, slammed the Nadigar Sangam for not paying tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away on August 16.
The general body meeting of the Nadigar Sangam was held on Sunday. Film shooting and other industry related events were cancelled within the Chennai city limits in order to allow the members to attend and conduct the meeting.
President Nasser, Vice President Ponvannan, Treasurer Karthi apprised the members of the activities of the Sangam. Karthi also laid out the agenda for the upcoming year.
SVe Shekher, who was removed from the Sangam earlier this year, told Silverscreen that the Sangam committed a grave mistake by not paying tribute to the late BJP leader.
“The Sangam paid tribute to other members who had died this year, but not Vajpayee sir. This is a sin in my eyes. This denotes just how blind the people in charge of the organisation are these days. They have zero social awareness and it’s just appalling.”
Reportedly, actor Sathyan had raised this issue in the general body meeting. His request, however, was shot down.
Shekher said that his allegiance to the BJP has nothing to do with his condemnation. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the party I belong to, though I am sure that’s what everybody thinks. It’s basic sense to pay tribute to a man who led our nation for such a long time.”
Shekher was removed from the organisation and his life membership was cancelled after he made derogatory comments against a woman journalist.
Tamil Nadu BJP President Tamizhisai Soundarrajan also attacked the Sangam on Twitter.
இன்று நடிகர் சங்க செயற்குழுவில்முன்னாள் முதல்வர் கலைஞர் அவர்களுக்கு இரங்கல் தீர்மானம் நிறைவேற்றியது போலவே முன்னாள் பாரதப்பிரதமர் வாஜ்பாய் அவர்களுக்கும் இரங்கல் தீர்மானம் வேண்டுமென ந.ச.உறுப்பினரும் பாஜககலைஅணிசெயலாளருமான சத்யன் சுட்டிக்காட்டிய பின்னரும் மறுத்தது கண்டனத்துக்குரியது
— Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (@DrTamilisaiBJP) August 19, 2018
Karunas, vice-president of the Sangam, said that the incident was not intentional. “Vajpayee sir was a great leader. We did not intentionally seek to exclude him. It was just that we wanted to pay tribute to people from within our film industry,” he told Silverscreen.
A spokesperson for Nasser and the Nadigar Sangam confirmed the same and said that an official statement was expected soon.
