Badri Seshadri, a renowned political analyst and publisher, has been arrested by the Tamil Nadu police early this morning (29 July).

While the reason for the arrest is not known, Sections 153 (Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot), 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony and 505 (Statements conducing to public mischief) have been mentioned in the FIR.

Condemning the arrest, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai said that the government was resorting to arrests in order to combat the opinions put out by common pople. Further, he asked if arresting people whom the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government wanted to take revenge against was the only job of the Tamil Nadu police.