The Indu Makkal Katchi (IMK) has said that it is willing to extend support to Thol. Thirumavalavan’s protest against Manu Smriti *provided the Chidambaram MP also includes other religious texts like Bible, Quran, Buddhist Tripitakas, etc which demeans women.
Speaking to The Commune, IMK spokesperson Mr. Sathya Narayanan said “We congratulate and thank Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi head Mr. Thirumavalavan for taking up the issue. In fact, we urge him to be truly secular by calling for a ban on Quran, Bible and other religious texts which objectifies and derogates women.”
He said that Manu Smriti has been the punching bag for Dravidianists and other religious conversion agents adding that they selectively leave out verses that venerates women.
He said that poor Muslim women are treated as child producing machines and are subject to unimaginable cruelty by Nikkah Halala, Triple Talaq, female genital mutilation just because some of the Islamic texts sanction it. He mentioned that it is the prime duty of every modern right thinking human to voice out against this injustice as well. He also quoted how the Genesis chapter in Bible denigrates women.
Mr. Sathya added “99% of the Hindus do not know what Manu Smriti is or what its contents are. You can neither find the book in the pooja rooms of Hindus nor in temples. We don’t know why Thirumavalavan is calling for a ban on something that is neither relevant nor is being followed by anyone. But Quran (including other Islamic texts like Hadith) and Bible are being followed as is by its respective believers and they contain misogynistic content as well. Does Thirumavalavan not care about the plight of the women in these religions?”.
When asked how it was because Hinduism is the religion of the majority, people like Thirumavalan and other rationalists are attacking the Hindu faith, Mr. Sathya said that crime against women is an evil present in all societies that needs to be fought and that pinning it on one particular religion and selectively targeting one community exposes a dangerous and criminal mindset.
He further added that he was thankful to Thirumavalavan as his clarion call has made the people identify all the anti-national and urban-naxal gang to come together.