News Tamil Nadu

Video of Dalit man carrying slippers of DMK MLA goes viral

July 6, 2020
The Commune

A video of a Dalit office bearer of the DMK, carrying the slippers of DMK MLA from Ambur A.C. Vilwanathan, has emerged.

The DMK MLA had gone to visit the rain-damaged barrier at Ponnappally village of Arangaldurgam Panchayat in Thirupatthur district on June 30. A few DMK members, including Venkatasamudram Panchayat Secretary Shankar, accompanied him. The area being slippery, the DMK MLA had removed his slippers to walk freely. The DMK MLA can be seen walking ahead while Sankar follows carrying the MLA’s slippers in his hands. Sankar belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.

This has landed DMK in yet another “DMK vs. Dalit” controversy. Earlier, Rajya Sabha DMK MP R.S. Bharathi courted controversy for saying that the appointment of Dalits as High Court judges in Tamil Nadu was “alms” given by the Dravidian parties. On May 13, DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran speaking to reporters after meeting the Chief Secretary to submit  petitions received under DMK’s propaganda banner “Ondrinaivom Vaa” said “They treated us like third-class people. What are we? Depressed class people?

The latest video has gone viral with people questioning the credibility of the party’s talks about social justice. However, Sankar has refuted the criticism mounted on the MLA saying that the he was not asked by the MLA to carry the slippers. Sankar added that it was him who carried the slippers voluntarily. Speaking on the matter, MLA Vilwanathan said that he does not see caste of people and was hurt by the allegations levelled against him. He said that those who are not able to tolerate his growth are creating controversy with vested interests.

Earlier, when Tamil Nadu Forest Minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan asked two tribal children to remove his slippers, it had caused huge outrage and became a subject matter of debate shows in Tamil Nadu. A complaint was filed with the police from the boys’ side. The Minister later regretted his actions and met the boys and their mother along with 50 other members of the tribe.

However, several netizens and media personalities have questioned the double standards shown by DMK and certain mainstream Tamil media agencies. Media personality and News Head of Channel Vision Madan Ravichandran tweeted questioning the silence maintained “strict face anchors” belonging to certain channels. Others on Twitteratis too have questioned the double standards shown.