Taking potshots on contemporary issues in arts and especially in cinema is quite a common sight. And now, Vijay's Meral, which hit the screens on Wednesday, October 18, has mocked newly-introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) along with the centre's ambitious move on digital governance.
Mersal 2-day Box Office Collection: Vijay's Film Grosses Big Money
In one scene, someone attempts to rob Vadievelu in a foreign country for which he mouths a dialogue thanking digital India as he does not have cash in his purse. The other dialogue appears in the climax when Vijay targets the implementation of GST.
Vijay claims that people pay a tax in the form of GST somewhere about 28 percent and in return, they would not get medical treatment for free, while a country like Singapore charges seven percent as tax, but provides free health treatment from the government. He also questions the imposition of 12 percent tax on medicines, which are supposed to save people's life.
Objecting the dialogues, Tamilisai Soundarajan, a BJP leader from Tamil Nadu, says that it sends a wrong message about GST and Digital India. "I haven't seen the movie, but those who saw the movie say there were factual errors in what was said. The scenes on GST and Digital India have been written in such a way so as to create a wrong impression on the minds of people," The News Minute quoted her as saying.
She also accused Vijay of doing this to gain political mileage as she feels that the actor is planning to enter politics.
However, a man named SG Suryah, an RSS member, has hit back at the dialogues by bringing in facts. "GST has been there in Singapore since 1994. There, every citizen contributes 8-10.5 percent of their monthly income for Medisave. For medical expenses, they pay seven percent GST. Without knowing all this, how do you feel that medical care is free there!" he tweeted.
He posted a series of memes on Twitter which can be seen below:
And this is what Vijay fans had to convey finally.. #MersalFake #Mersal @actorvijay @Atlee_dir pic.twitter.com/TmUP9cHlK5
— Pranesh Rangan (@PraneshRangan) October 19, 2017
Singapore Population - 56 Lakhs. People paying Income Tax 40%. Indian Population - 125 Crores. Income Tax paid by 4% Population.#MersalFake
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) October 19, 2017
Like someone pointed #Mersal dialogue writers had easiest job. Many dialogues were stolen from What’s App/Facebook forwards. No fact check.
— SG Suryah (@SuryahSG) October 19, 2017
