(Image via thehindu.com)
S Palaniappan, a resident of Chennai, and an avid fan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, got beaten up by a bunch of auto-rickshaw drivers in Anna Nagar, when he insisted that they charge him Rs. 7 per km instead of their usual fare, for taking him to T-Nagar.
According to onlookers who witnessed the incident, Palaniappan stood at the Anna Nagar bus-stop for more than an hour, signaling to passing auto-rickshaws and asking them to take him to T-Nagar for 7 rupees per kilometre. “A couple of autos ignored him completely. A few others eyed him as if he were a Martian before driving off. Most called him colourful names. But the real trouble started when he walked over to a makeshift auto-stand and went around quoting Modi’s recent speeches in the US to get them to agree to the Mars fare,” said Tamilselvan, a chaiwala who’d set up shop near the bus-stand.
“When the country can send an orbiter all the way to Mars 70 crore kilometers away, at less than Rs. 7 a kilometer, how can you ask for such an exorbitant sum to take me to T-Nagar?” Palaniappan was overheard demanding, while auto-rickshaw drivers stood around, glaring at him, minutes before they converged and rained blows on the hapless man.
Auto-rickshaw drivers insist that they are not to blame, and that there’s a limit to everything. “7 Rupees per kilometer?” exclaimed an outraged auto-rickshaw driver. “This is Chennai! People pawn their jewellery in order to take an auto ride! Has that porambokku been living in a cave all this while?”