If any tragedy happens in a BJP-ruled state, an entire ecosystem gets activated to blame the government, the Chief Minister, and the ministers within no time. However, if the roots of a tragedy lead to non-BJP-ruled states, the same ecosystem automatically slips into silence and hibernation.
The recent tragedy involving the death of several children after being administered a contaminated cough syrup is a case in point. While the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan governments, both BJP-ruled, immediately took steps to delist the stocks and stop the manufacture of the product, the Tamil Nadu government, where the syrup was actually produced, did not take any action against the Kancheepuram-based manufacturer despite several reported violations. Instead, it began blaming the deaths of children on the alleged inaction of the Madhya Pradesh government until the issue reached its pinnacle.
Madhya Pradesh Minister of State for Public Health and Family Welfare, Narendra Shivaji Patel, on October 8, stated that the Tamil Nadu government is responsible for the deaths of 20 children in his state due to kidney infections caused by the consumption of an allegedly contaminated cough syrup.
Sresan Pharmaceuticals, a drug company based in Kancheepuram, is now facing multiple criminal and regulatory cases after its cough syrup was linked to the deaths of at least 21 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The contaminated medicine was found to contain dangerously high levels of the toxic chemical diethylene glycol.
https://twitter.com/faf_world/status/1976185083473326476
On October 7, the Tamil Nadu government issued a show-cause notice to Sresan’s proprietor and manufacturing chemist, G. Ranganathan, and analytical chemist K. Maheswari, asking them to answer 16 questions within five days. As the manufacturing unit remains shut and abandoned, the notice was pasted on the door of their building (No. 787) on the Bengaluru Highway in Sunguvarchathiram, Kancheepuram.
A seven-member SIT formed by the Madhya Pradesh government nabbed the director of Shree San Pharma, Govindan Ranganathan, during a late-night raid in Kodambakkam, with the help of the Ashok Nagar police, seizing key documents, drug samples, and production records.
The director of Shree San Pharma, Govindan Ranganathan, has been arrested in connection with the death of children in Madhya Pradesh caused by contaminated cough syrup (Coldbuf).
An SIT team formed by the MP government nabbed him during a late-night raid in Chennai, seizing key… pic.twitter.com/aeZ5VX2193
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) October 9, 2025
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has ordered the formation of an SIT to investigate the tragic deaths of children in Chhindwara due to the contaminated cough syrup. The State police have already arrested the owner of the pharmaceutical company from Tamil Nadu.
🚨 BIG ACTION by MP BJP govt
Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav has ordered the FORMATION of an SIT to investigate the tragic deaths of children in Chhindwara due to cough syrup.
State police have already ARRESTED the owner of the pharmaceutical company from Tamil Nadu. pic.twitter.com/LvQKDZGp5G
— Megh Updates 🚨™ (@MeghUpdates) October 9, 2025
Like the proverbial act of “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”, Tamil Nadu Drug Control officials have now initiated action against Sresan Pharmaceuticals for manufacturing the cough syrup Coldrif, which was found to be contaminated with a toxic substance believed to have led to the deaths of 21 children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. After the Madhya Pradesh government’s swift action, the Tamil Nadu government has also banned the sale of Coldrif and ordered its removal from the market.
Initially, the DMK and its allies criticised the Madhya Pradesh government for its handling of the issue. They attempted to blame the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for the deaths of the children but realised their folly only after discovering that the manufacturing violations originated in Tamil Nadu. S. Gurubharathi, Deputy Director of the Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department, told the media, “Thirty-nine critical observations and 325 major observations were noticed by the team during raids conducted on October 1 and 2 at the manufacturing unit, in which several non-compliances under Schedule M and L1 of the Drugs Rules, 1945 were found.”
When asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s likely visit to Chhindwara to meet the families of the deceased children, MP Minister Patel remarked, “The government in Tamil Nadu is running with the support of the Congress. Rahul Gandhi should question his party’s alliance partner as to why this tragedy happened. I smell a conspiracy if the Congress is politicising this issue.”
A tweet noted: “Have you observed how swiftly the cough syrup controversy faded after the Opposition realised the implicated pharma company was based in Tamil Nadu, and it was the Tamil Nadu Drug Authority that approved the harmful syrup despite overlooking 350 violations at the facility?”
Have you observed how swiftly the cough syrup controversy faded after the Opposition realized the implicated pharma company was based in Tamil Nadu, and it was the Tamil Nadu drug authority that approved the harmful syrup despite overlooking 350 violations at the facility?
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) October 9, 2025
Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu State Drug Control Department has issued a warning against the purchase, sale, and consumption of two cough syrups manufactured in Gujarat, Relief and Respifresh TR, following an alert from the Madhya Pradesh government. The alert pertains to batches expiring in December 2026, feared to have been adulterated with diethylene glycol.
Gurubharathi stated, “The MP drug testing laboratory has found Relief and Respifresh TR ‘not of standard quality’.” Tamil Nadu officials are reportedly attempting to seize around 100 bottles of Coldrif from shops in the state, besides initiating criminal proceedings against Sresan Pharmaceuticals. If convicted, the accused may face a minimum of 10 years of imprisonment, extendable to life imprisonment, and a fine of not less than Rs 10 lakh.
Tamil Nadu BJP President Nainar Nagendran and leaders such as Annamalai have criticised the ruling DMK government over the cough syrup tragedy linked to the Kancheepuram factory. They termed the incident “an example of administrative failures under the DMK government and inaction from state regulators”. They also cited “Union Health Ministry sources that reportedly criticised the Tamil Nadu Food and Drug Administration for inaction, based on a 26-page inspection report highlighting numerous manufacturing violations at the Kancheepuram plant.” It is learnt that the unit had been operating for years despite major lapses in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). The Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department found over 360 major violations at the Sresan Pharmaceuticals facility, including rusty equipment, unhygienic conditions, and the use of non-pharmaceutical grade chemicals — yet it was allowed to function until the controversy erupted.
It is pertinent to note that an opposition leader in Madhya Pradesh questioned why drug inspectors and controllers in Tamil Nadu failed to act, given the severity of the contamination, in which the cough syrup contained 48.6% of the industrial solvent diethylene glycol — far above the permissible limit of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, former Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai has sharply criticised the DMK government for transporting medicines in a garbage vehicle. In a tweet, he said, “Chennai’s Kodungaiyur speaks volumes about the patchwork model of the DMK government’s utter disregard for the well-being of the people of Tamil Nadu. Such glaring incompetence has turned governance into a mockery. Even after the tragic loss of 21 infants to toxic cough syrup manufactured in Tamil Nadu, a direct result of years of neglect and apathy in Tamil Nadu’s drug control system, the State Health Department continues to fail in upholding the most basic standards.”
The disgraceful act of carrying life-saving medicines meant for pregnant women & children in a garbage truck to an urban primary health centre in Chennai’s Kodungaiyur speaks volumes about the patchwork model DMK govt’s utter disregard for the well-being of the people of TN.… pic.twitter.com/RcjwrTt1Ld
— K.Annamalai (@annamalai_k) October 9, 2025
In 2010, Health and Police officials in Tamil Nadu busted an inter-state racket that allegedly procured expired drugs from a garbage dumping yard and diverted them back to medical shops for sale after printing fake expiry dates on the strips and bottles. The then AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa stated that “a probe by the CBCID, which functions under Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s watch, would not be appropriate”. To ensure accountability and justice for all those involved, she had demanded a CBI inquiry into the expired and fake drug racket.
