Prison Break vs Money Heist: Tamil Nadu jailbreak feeds into Stalin-Vijay war | Political Pulse News
A jailbreak in Theni has become the latest episode in Tamil Nadu’s political battle, with former chief minister M K Stalin invoking the hit show, Prison Break, to attack the Vijay government and the ruling TVK’s IT wing responding with a streaming catalogue of alleged DMK scandals.
Stalin, who lost his Kolathur constituency in the wave that brought actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay to power, said Tamil Nadu had moved from “Breaking Bad” to “Prison Break” under the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government.
His criticism followed the escape of 17 prisoners from the district jail in Thekkampatti, near Andipatti. The inmates allegedly attacked a guard who entered their cell after a prisoner appeared to suffer an epileptic fit. The guard sustained a head injury, and the inmates fled through the main gate.
For Stalin, the Theni escape came before the state had recovered from the shock of two prisoners fleeing Puzhal prison in Chennai.
“I thought they were only failing to monitor criminals who come out on bail,” he said in a statement. “This government is functioning in such a manner that it is allowing even prisoners inside jail to escape.”
He said he had been told that the escape of so many prisoners at once was the first such incident since 1995, when 43 suspected LTTE militants fled a special detention camp inside Vellore Fort through a tunnel. Stalin questioned how a jailbreak of this scale could occur in 2026, when security arrangements and surveillance facilities had improved.
“Criminals outside are freely committing crimes. Prisoners inside are escaping boldly,” he said.
He called the TVK administration a “good-for-nothing government” and a “government of fools”, saying it would not protect the people. “Tamil Nadu has reached the unfortunate state where people have to protect themselves,” he said.
It was a familiar opposition argument delivered with the vocabulary of a streaming platform. The reply came from a team accustomed to fighting precisely that kind of battle: TVK’s IT wing, which has helped shape the digital face of Vijay’s party and government since its sudden rise to power.
The wing began by imagining Stalin at home, catching up on the shows others had watched during the pandemic.
“Chittaranjan Road Moorthy is now watching at home, for entertainment, the web series everyone watched for entertainment during the Covid period,” it said, using a mocking nickname linked to the road where Stalin lives. “He stays at home all day – he must get bored too, right?”
If Stalin had chosen Breaking Bad and Prison Break, the TVK team suggested that the DMK’s record could supply plots for several others.
“It would be no exaggeration to say that the DMK’s style of governance was the inspiration for many English web series,” it said. “The starting point for web series like Narcos, Money Heist and Scam is the DMK’s history itself.”
The post alleged a history of corruption stretching “from the sugar scam to the school scam of the acting demon”, an apparent reference to former minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, who has been named in an alleged fraud involving private schools and was arrested on Monday. It claimed that the DMK’s corruption record was world-famous and joked that “Sweet Uncle” would proudly try to claim credit for inspiring the shows.
The IT wing was not finished. It said four more imagined productions were on the way: 2G Files, Cable Chronicles, Toilet Scam and Extortion Game and some episodes from the DMK’s history would provide the content.
“Add them all to your watchlist and enjoy watching, Sweet Uncle!” the post concluded.
