Actor-turned-politician and National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) chairman G Krishna Kumar has criticised Tovino Thomas and Joju George for backing the recent CJP-led student protests, questioning their criticism of the police action and alleging that violence against police personnel has been overlooked.
Speaking on the latest episode of Express Dialogues of The New Indian Express, Krishna Kumar maintained that while protests are a democratic right, violence can never be justified. "Protests should happen. They should happen strongly. But violence is never the answer," he said.
Responding to Tovino Thomas' social media post condemning the police action against protesting students, Krishna Kumar questioned the actor's remarks. Referring to the ARM actor's post asking whether students who neither vandalised public property nor resorted to violence deserved such treatment, Krishna Kumar said there was video evidence showing attacks on police personnel. "Wasn't public property damaged? Didn't they attack the police? There are videos of pepper spray being used on police officers and of policemen being assaulted while in uniform. It doesn't matter which political party is involved. Even if it were my own party tomorrow, I would say the same. You cannot attack people in uniform," he said.
Krishna Kumar added that many people present at the protest were not students who had appeared for the examination but had gathered for other reasons. "Anyone can join a protest. Some came just to watch. Some came for other reasons. That's not wrong. But those who instigated others will escape while innocent youngsters will end up facing the consequences," he said, adding that facial recognition technology and fingerprint evidence would help identify those involved in violence.
Taking direct aim at the Mayaanadhi actor, Krishna Kumar questioned the actor's motives. "Tovino Thomas asks whether any vehicles or public property were damaged. I don't know what kind of blindness he has. Is it religious blindness or political blindness? Why is he speaking like this?" he said.
Krishna Kumar also criticised actor-director Joju George for his speech at Maharaja's College, where the actor had described the handling of the protests as akin to an Emergency. "I saw Joju speaking at Maharaja's College about the Emergency. He's a Congressman. He himself says the Emergency was wrong. My point is simple: protest in a proper manner. The intention behind all this is something else," he said.
During the interview, Krishna Kumar also claimed that politics and religion had influenced the CJP-led protests, arguing that political workers from different parties were present at the demonstrations.