TIRUPUR: A 35-year-old garment manufacturer from Tirupur, who has produced T-shirts with slogans including ‘Hindi Theriyathu Poda’ and ‘I am a Tamil Pesum Indian’, alleges that he has been receiving threatening calls for the past few days.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, B Karthikeyan, who has been engaged in the garment business for the past five years at Veerapandi in Tirupur, said, “I have been selling T-shirts to event management companies and on corporate orders. Last week, I received a call from Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi's office about the T-shirt and slogan. When I received the slogan, it was unique and powerful.”
“The slogans 'I am a Tamil Pesum Indian' (I am a Tamil speaking Indian) and 'Hindi Theriyathu Poda' (I don't know Hindi, go man) sparked my interest. So, we knitted the T-shirt and created a beautiful print on the dress. Within a few days, it got a huge following in Chennai and throughout Tamil Nadu. Several cine celebrities and top personalities sported the T-shirt and I felt very happy about it,” he added.
He further said, “With friends and relatives appreciating the work, I started to get orders. So, I decided to sell the T-shirt and created a post on social media and started getting orders from around the globe.”
Elaborating on the threats he received, he said, “When I posted my number and pictures of the T-shirt on social media platforms, I started receiving threats and abuses on the phone. Many calls were from people in Dubai and Singapore. They abused me though I explained that I was just a garment maker opposed to the imposition of a language.”
He said, “So, I started remaining silent and whenever a new person called, I pretended that I wasn't the garment maker. But my friends encouraged me to be strong and I then decided to attend all calls.”
However, he said he is not planning to lodge a police complaint about the threatening calls, adding that he is ready to face them on his own.