The one-minute clip that was termed as obscene and offensive to Hindu religious sects whose symbolism was sexualized in the speech was repeatedly shared by many opposition party members and those social media activists critical of the DMK with many of them launching a blistering attack on Ponmudi and BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya calling it a continuation of DMK’s alleged attack on Hinduism
Chennai: Chief Minister and DMK President M.K. Stalin removed his ministerial colleague K Ponmudi from the party post of deputy general secretary after a video of his speech at an event marking the centenary of Thiruvarur K Thangarasu, a writer and orator from the Dravidian Movement, on April 6 went viral on Thursday evening with many persons, including DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi coming down on it.
Stalin himself issuing the order removing the senior leader from the party post was significant as hitherto all such party affairs were normally taken care of by the general secretary Durai Murugan.
The one-minute clip that was termed as obscene and offensive to Hindu religious sects whose symbolism was sexualized in the speech was repeatedly shared by many opposition party members and those social media activists critical of the DMK with many of them launching a blistering attack on Ponmudi and BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya calling it a continuation of DMK’s alleged attack on Hinduism.
As many BJP leaders like K Annamalai, Khushbu Sundar and Narayan Tirupathi and other prominent persons like Chinmayi Sripada, who said, ‘This is a joke. The joke is on us,’ started hitting out at the DMK, the party president Stalin removed him from the post without specifying any reason and appointed Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi N Siva in his place. Soon after the appointment, Siva called on Stalin and other senior leaders of the party at Anna Airvalayam.
The meeting on April 6 was organized by Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, drawing a small crowd of people, when Ponmudi was mainly recalling past incidents relating to the Dravidian Movement with special reference to the contribution of Thangarasu, who was the script writer for the M R Radha starrer, ‘Ratha Kaneer’ (Tears of Blood).
After mentioning that obscenity in the Hindu epics were brought out to the common people through debates (Patti Mandram) by Dravidian leaders like Thangarasu, he said that those events were even ticketed and advertised as ‘adults only’ shows.
Ponmudi’s recollection of Thangarasu’s orations led him to narrate a story in which he dragged in Saivism and Vaishnavism by referring to the religious marks the followers use on their forehead and giving an obscene suggestion to them.
Apart from offending the religious sensibilities of the believers of the two religious streams, Ponmudi was also accused of belittling women in the speech, which was termed as vulgar.
In another development, Durai Murugan tendered an open unconditional apology for referring to disabled persons in a crude manner. Disability groups had objected to derogatory remarks of the Minister for Water Resources that were made at a public meeting and demanded action against him.
