Amar Prasad Reddy is a functionary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu. He is also a fake news peddler, a Hindu nationalist, and an Islamophobe. In June 2020, he falsely claimed on Twitter that two Muslim men were involved in the horrific death of an elephant in Kerala’s Palakkad district. He eventually took the tweet down after he was fact-checked, but not before the tweet garnered over 12k likes and 7.9k reposts.

In April 2022, Reddy amplified another misleading claim targeting Muslims. Following a tweet by Harinder S Sikka, Group Director at Piramal Enterprises, that misinterpreted a ‘Halal policy’ document at Himalaya Company’s Pune factory, Reddy called for a boycott of the brand. This baseless claim alleged that the Halal certificate indicated a Muslim-only workforce and the use of beef extracts in products, fueling communal outrage against the company. Reddy’s tweet garnered 16k likes and over 4k reposts. 

In October 2023, Reddy was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police, in connection with the alleged attacking and damaging of a JCB machine that was brought to remove an illegal flag pole in Chennai.

According to Reddy, India is a Hindu nation and not a secular one. In one of his many tweets, he implied that secularism unfairly burdens Hindus while allowing Muslims and Christians to prioritize their faiths. He further suggested that India’s identity as a Hindu nation was being undermined, subtly advancing the Hindutva agenda.

Reddy has also amplified the “love jihad” conspiracy on his social media. Promoting the controversial movie “The Kerala Story” which is also not based on facts, Reddy in a tweet said that “.#KeralaStory is about terrorists targetting Hindu girls to convert to other religions in the name of Love Jihad and making them slaves in the ISIS terror movement. Why do Kerala and Tamil Nadu Governments are afraid of this Movie??? Truth is unstoppable.”

In October 2023, Reddy was arrested by Tamil Nadu Police for allegedly attacking and damaging a JCB machine used to remove an illegal flagpole in Chennai. The flagpole was dangerously close to high-voltage power lines and had been causing public inconvenience, leading to its removal by the police and local corporations. The JCB controversy further cemented his controversial profile. 

Legal troubles and arrests don’t stop him. Reddy’s lies fuel violence, all while he hides behind political power.