Motivational speaker arrested in TN following face off with visually impaired teacher

Chennai: A ‘motivational’ speaker who stoked controversy by his remarks on rebirth and for his brazen argument on ‘sin and punya’ with a differently-abled government school teacher was arrested on Saturday, police said.

Following a complaint from a member of an association committed to the welfare of the differently-abled people, he was arrested at the airport on his arrival from abroad.

He was later produced before a court which remanded him to judicial custody, a police officer said adding provisions of relevant laws have been invoked against him.

The motivation speaker, Maha Vishnu, was the founder of Paramporul Foundation and who gives lectures and holds training programmes on yoga practices and meditation.

Days ago, the visually impaired teacher, Shankar, strongly objected to remarks based on Karma and rebirth in a school programme meant for motivating students.

The founder of the foundation argued with the teacher over the issue and a video clip of his arguments, some of which appeared inappropriate and harsh, was widely shared in the social media.

School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, reacting to the arrest, said, ‘law will do its duty’ and added that the association for the differently-abled has alleged insult to them. While the minister had already thrown his weight behind the school teacher, BJP Tamil Nadu vice president Narayanan Tirupathi termed the arrest ‘hasty’ and said the action was expected.

In a post on ‘X’, the BJP leader said: “That is ‘Dravida Model’. Unnecessarily the govt has created a tiger out of a cat.”