DMK Mounts Street Protest against TVK Minister for Alleged Drug Abuse, Minister Refutes Charges

Rohit Kumar

NEW DELHI, June 29: The DMK on Monday mounted one of its first major street protests the TVK chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s government demanding the dismissal and arrest of Human Resources Management Minister D Sarath Kumar over a resurfaced viral video that many allege depicted him as a drug user.

The police denied permission for the demonstration, but in Chennai dozens of DMK workers and members of the party’s students’ wing assembled near Rajarathinam Stadium and later staged a road blockade at Doveton in Vepery, briefly disrupting traffic. Officers detained more than 50 protesters, including party functionaries, before dispersing the gathering, citing prohibitory orders. Officials said those detained were likely to be released later.

The minister is facing heat after the DMK filed a police complaint against him for usage of narcotic substances. The complaint was filed by advocate Saranya Natarajan, the DMK’s legal cell member. The controversy involved an old video which resurfaced recently, showing D Sarathkumar, also known as “Ghilli Sarath”, inside a stadium during an Indian Premier League match, with an ATM card to line up a white powdery substance on a smartphone screen, while holding a Rs 500 currency note.

The clip was originally posted by Sarathkumar himself a few years ago as a casual Instagram story with the caption “Thug life moments.” Political parties and social media users claimed the gestures were identical to the process of preparing synthetic drugs or narcotics for snorting. Many online argued that the sequence bears a resemblance to familiar visual depictions of narcotics being prepared, prompting allegations on social media that the minister was using drugs.

Following the online backlash, Minister D Sarathkumar released a two-minute video statement alongside his family to deny the charges leveled against him. He explained that the video was taken two to three years ago at Chepauk Stadium in Chennai when his daughter fell ill during an IPL match, which is why he was crushing a medicine for her. He stated that his daughter refuses to swallow pills, so his wife advised him to crush it and feed it to her.

“This morning I attended an anti-drug campaign event. Since then, a false narrative using an old video of mine is being spread, claiming that I was doing drugs,” the minister said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

“My daughter needed to take medicine, but she could not swallow the tablet whole. My wife asked me to crush it so it could be mixed with water and given to her. That is exactly what I was doing,” he added.

The Tamil Nadu minister requested people not to spread false claims. He said such allegations were causing considerable distress to him and his family.

Advocate Saranya Natarajan filed a complaint against Sarathkumar, requesting the police to immediately register an FIR and investigate on this matter. “A video of Tamil Nadu Human Resource Minister Sarathkumar using a cocaine-like substance during an IPL game had been going viral on social media. He had put a video saying that he had crushed a tablet to provide to his child, however, no one will crush a tablet like that. People who use narcotic substances only will engage in such an activity. He had posted that video on his Instagram with a caption ‘Thug life’,” she said.

“He had accepted in his explanation video that it was him who was seen in the video. If anyone else had engaged in such activities, police would have immediately registered an FIR and started an inquiry into this…” she added.

The video surfaced on the day when the chief minister launched a massive state-wide anti-drug campaign. Sarathkumar had participated in the campaign just hours prior to it.

The protest was all about the Opposition party’s attempt to turn a social media controversy into a political issue, arguing that a minister should be held to a higher standard, particularly amid public campaigns against narcotics. The video has since triggered sharp political criticism from Opposition parties.

Despite that clarification, the DMK intensified its attack. Its students’ wing announced a state-wide agitation demanding Sarath Kumar’s immediate dismissal from the Cabinet, arguing that a minister should not be associated with visuals that raise questions during an anti-drug campaign. In a statement announcing Monday’s protest, the organization said combating drug abuse was a collective social responsibility and alleged that the minister’s actions ran contrary to that objective. It further accused him of “hiding behind a child to play politics.”

Former Health Minister MA Subramanian accused the government of suppressing democratic protests and criticized what he described as its handling of drug-related issues. DMK spokesperson Saravanan also criticized the police action, alleging that party workers attempting to make arrangements for the protest had been detained overnight.

The controversy has also drawn criticism beyond the DMK. The DMDK general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth described the footage as “highly condemnable” saying public representatives should maintain proper conduct and that the emergence of the video during an anti-drug campaign was unfortunate. Sarath Kumar, who was only recently inducted into the Vijay cabinet, continues to reject the allegations. His party, the TVK, has since sought to distance itself from the episode as political pressure over the viral video continues to grow.