Shanmugasundaram Pannirselvam (24 April 1940 – 10 October 2024), popularly known as Murasoli Selvam, was a political journalist and film producer from Tamil Nadu, India.
Selvam was associated with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) early on,[7] and made his mark as a student leader during the 1965-67 Anti-Hindi agitations.
On 22 May 1991, the day after the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the Murasoli office was attacked and set on fire.
[5][2] Also, around this time, one of his articles criticised some actions of the then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa,[7] especially highlighting the sequence of events that unfolded during her stay in Kodanad estate.
This event made Selvam the first newspaper editor in Tamil Nadu to be reprimanded at the Bar of the Legislative Assembly.
[2][5] In November 2003, the LegiAssembly's Committee on Privileges sentenced six journalists, including Selvam, to 15 days in prison for writing critically of Jayalalithaa's activities in the Assembly.
[2] His last officially published article appeared in Murasoli on 8 August 2024, wherein he was critical of R. N. Ravi (Governor of Tamil Nadu), calling out his religious politics.
[13][14][15] Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, as president of the DMK, mourned that he lost "the last shoulder and ideological pillar to lean on".
At the event, Stalin announced that a trust would be established in Selvam's name to annually confer awards to works and creators from the Dravidian movement.