'Mersal', to be released as 'Adirindhi' in Telugu, has courted a strange controversy. A Tamil Nadu BJP leader named Tamilisai Soundarrajan has objected to the way the film projects the GST and Digital India programme.

In one of the scenes, Vijay's character pooh-poohs that the quality and coverage of healthcare in India is poor despite GST rates being higher than in Singapore. In another scene, comedian Vadivelu seems to mockingly say that he is cashless thanks to Digital India.

There is a demand for putting the record straight by purging the scenes out.

"GST has been there in Singapore since 1994. There, every citizen contributes 8-10.5% of their monthly income for Medisave. For medical expenses, they pay 7% GST. Without knowing all this, how do you fib that medical care is free there!” a factoid doing the rounds on social media says.

"Like someone pointed #Mersal dialogue writers had the easiest job. Many dialogues were stolen from What`s App/Facebook forwards. No fact check," says SG Suryah, the Vice President of Tamil Nadu BJP's youth wing.