The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has a history and that history is loaded with its leaders derogating women. That’s because the party’s late patriarch himself has a bad reputation of being a womenizer, misogynist and making obscene remarks about women.
DMK cadres, members of the IT Wing, and pro-DMK media have taken to social media platforms, posting videos, tweets, and articles, asserting Karunanidhi’s contributions towards women’s upliftment and social justice. Padma Priya, the Deputy Secretary of the DMK IT Wing, shared a video on her Twitter account highlighting Karunanidhi’s initiatives, including granting women property rights, a 30% reservation for women in government jobs, and a 33% reservation for women in local body elections.
As Karunanidhi’s 100th birthday is being celebrated in grand style by DMK workers calling him as a torch-bearer of women’s right, here are few derogatory speeches and comments of Karunanidhi about women.
During the anti-Hindi agitations, DMK men at the behest of Karunanidhi had wall writings that said:
This was recounted by Prof. Mangai during her lecture on Tamil nationalism at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
If there had been a Nobel Prize for perversion he would have won it hands down every year. https://t.co/GGqK1glNhf pic.twitter.com/vUb3oVvW47
— Vishwatma 🇮🇳 (@HLKodo) June 2, 2023
Her ‘Menstrual Blood’
Once during a protest staged by the DMK in Madurai, Congress leader Indira Gandhi, who was the Prime Minister at the time, was hit in the head and started bleeding. When asked to comment about the injury, Karunanidhi had perversely said that it would have been ‘menstrual blood’ that could have leaked for Indira Gandhi.
Lift The Petticoat
In another incident, a female Congress MLA called Ananthanayaki had questioned in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, as to where the so-called Dravida Naadu (Dravidian country) was after a lengthy speech given on the same topic by CN Annadurai.
Karunanidhi in a disgusting response told Ananthanayaki “If the naada (thread) is removed and paavadai (petticoat) is lifted, she can find her Dravida Naadu.” However, DMK folks subvert this sexual speech saying that Karunanidhi meant the “thread” that is tied to the government file, and by paavadai he meant the cloth on which “urgent” would be written.
I Can Help Her Have Kids
Karunanidhi also went on to criticise former CM Late Jayalalithaa after he had consistently lost to her, saying that she will no longer be able to have kids since her best years were behind her, and said that he would have helped her have kids if she had asked him.
He had also said that she knew a lot of languages because she was in ‘that kind of a job’, hinting at prostitution as Jayalalithaa had her career as an actress.
(Kaathavaraayan is a columnist and political writer).
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