Vishal has opened up once again about the brief detention of Tamil Nadu Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin over his alleged remarks about a female actor, saying that similar action should be taken against everyone who makes inappropriate comments about women in the film industry.
Speaking to ANI, Vishal said such incidents can happen in politics, but stressed that the same standard should apply to others who make remarks against women. He said, "These kinds of incidents do happen in political scenarios. So I wish that whatever happened to Udhay, the same kind of punishment happens to everyone who speaks ill about women in our fraternity."
"There are so many other people on YouTube; there are so many other people who have been openly speaking, hitting below the belt about our female fraternity. So I wish it were the same treatment...," he added.
Earlier, in another interview, Vishal stated that he never imagined that his college senior Vijay would send his batchmate Udhay to jail. "Today, Udhayanidhi is there, Vijay has entered politics, everything has changed," he said, noting that certain comments "can be avoided", but added that such developments are part and parcel of politics.
Udhayanidhi Stalin, was released after questioning by police for about an hour at Sengipatti Police Station in Thanjavur district earlier this month. His detention came after protests over his alleged remarks against a female actor during a Cauvery rights demonstration.
The controversy began when Udhayanidhi was addressing a gathering during a Cauvery protest and some people in the crowd reportedly started chanting the name of a famous female Tamil actor. He allegedly responded with a double-meaning remark before saying that he was referring to Cauvery water.
Following the remarks, the women's wing of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) lodged a complaint with the Thanjavur Police, alleging that the DMK leader had made a double-entendre remark targeting the female star. The DMK, however, has maintained that Udhayanidhi's remarks were misrepresented and were directed at the government's functioning, not at any individual.