Chennai: State cooperation minister Sellur K Raju appears to have got into real trouble trying to ridicule superstar Rajinikanth's political ambitions. His remarks at a media interaction on Thursday that the actor might at best "get Karaikudi aachi and not Tamil Nadu aachi (government)" has infuriated the highly influential Nagarathar community of the Chettinad region down south, where the married woman is respectfully called 'aachi'.
With the Nagarathars raising in protest, Minister Raju on Saturday tried to make amends by tendering apology but in the process further ruffled the feathers as its leaders saw it to be a half-hearted retraction.
“We want an unconditional apology, nothing less. The minister is now trying to give an excuse saying he had only referred to late actor Manorama when he said ‘aachi’ (she had done a role as ‘aachi’) and did not mean our women. We do not accept”, said former Supreme Court judge A. R. Lakshmanan, a prominent member of the Nagarathar community, which also has well-known personalities such as former Union Minister P. Chidambaram and top industrialists A.Vellayan, AC Muthiah and the late MAM Ramaswamy.
“And who is he (Raju) to comment about Manorama?” asked Justice Lakshmanan, adding that the community representatives have decided to take up the matter with the Chief Minister and even move the court with a libel suit.In his half-cocked retraction of the offensive ‘aachi’ remark, Minister Raju said his words were “misunderstood” whereas he had never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings. “If I have hurt anybody, I am truly sorry. I had only referred to Manorama who had done an aachi role in a movie”, he said on Saturday.
Sources said the minister’s colleagues too are as much embarrassed if not upset with his ‘aachi’ comment, with the social media too getting pretty active on this latest hot thing in TN politics. Rival camper TTV Dhinakaran offered a piece of ‘friendly advice’ to the beleaguered Raju, telling the ex-friend he should quietly, and quickly, apologise without any riders (such as Manorama) since “everyone in Tamil Nadu knows who aachi refers to, which community”. TTV’s tweet has gone viral.
BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan too has slammed Minister Raju saying his disparaging remark was terribly wrong and in poor taste. “The Minister should not have uttered a derogatory remark hurting people. He should speak with caution”, she said. The Nagarathars, also known as Nattukottai Chettiars, have been famous for generations for their business acumen and have created hugely successful business houses, such as the Murugappa Group, the MA Chidambaram Group, the Chettinad Group, Thyagaraja Group, Karumuthu, Loyal Textiles and the AVM Studios, besides giving the country many prominent banks.
The community spread across Sivaganga and Pudukottai districts, Chennai, Singapore, Malaysia, US and Europe, is said to be worth more than Rs 1 lakh crores. And the Nagarathar families, rich not in just material wealth but also in tradition and culture, hugely respect their women.
