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“Sanghi, Circus Tiger, Caged Parrot”: VCK Chief Thiruma About Indian Prez-elect Droupadi Murmu

Former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu has scripted history by becoming the first leader from the tribal community to become the Indian President. She is also the youngest person and the second woman to occupy the highest office of the country.

However, the DMK and its allies like Thol. Thirumavalavan’s Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) had supported Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the Presidential elections.

VCK chief Thirumavalavan who claims himself to be a leader of the depressed, oppressed and suppressed classes had justified his stance to support Yashwant Sinha, who hails from a socially and educationally forward community, saying that supporting Droupadi Murmu would mean supporting the BJP and hence they had extended support to Yashwant Sinha to ‘save the Constitution’ given by Dr. Ambedkar. Infact, the VCK MP had urged Opposition parties to nominate a Christian candidate for Presidential elections, which seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

On the other hand, Thol. Thirumavalavan had made unsavoury remarks on Droupadi Murmu, the President candidate of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He had called Droupadi Murmu a ‘Sanghi’, a caged parrot and ‘circus tiger’.

Addressing a protest meeting at Chennai on 22 June 2022, Thirumavalavan said “They (BJP) have kept a check-mate for us. They’ve nominated a woman from the indigenous tribe, Droupadi Murmu, as the Presidential candidate. Many are asking us whether VCK will support Yashwant Sinha who belongs to the forward caste or the candidate announced by BJP who is a woman belonging to tribal community. She is a parrot but a caged parrot. She is a tigress but a circus tigress. How can we support her?

He also robbed off her agency implying that she would act just as her ‘masters’ would want her to.

The tigress that roams in the forest won’t yield to anyone. But a circus tigress? It will dance to the master’s tunes. Parrots can fly freely but a caged parrot is only fit for astrology. Those in the BJP are just ‘Josiya Kili’ (the parakeet used by astrologers). Those in the BJP are just circus tigress. We will support only true parrots and tigresses. We won’t support a Josiya Kili“, Thirumavalavan said.

He had also said that even through she is a tribal woman, she is a Sanghi (a a colloquial term referring to a devout Hindu, a subscriber of Hindutva ideology, a support of BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and everything in that spectrum.)

In another gathering, Thirumavalavan implied that the motive behind BJP’s decision to nominate a tribal leader as President is to stop Dalits and tribals from converting to Christianity and Islam.

Speaking at an event in Chennai on 23 July 2022, Thirumavalavan said “Dalits and tribal are those who convert. Religous conversion is happening on a daily basis. Every day 1000-2000 people are going ‘Yesappa, Yesappa’ (referring to Jesus). A ten or twenty convert to Islam. Conversion happens a lot only among the Dalits and tribes. To stop this conversion, they (BJP) are strategically taking Dalits and Ambedkar in their hands. But their original enemy is Ambedkar. The enemy of the BJP and RSS is Ambedkar because his enemy is the Constituion drafted by Ambedkar. But they won’t tell that in the open. They can’t oppose Ambedkar like they oppose Periyar.

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