Chennai: The controversial remarks made by former South Indian film actress and BJP supporter Kasthuri Shankar at a rally organized in Chennai on Sunday to demand the bringing in of a Prevention of Atrocities Act to protect the Brahmin community, on the lines of the existing one for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs & STs), has opened a Pandora’s Box in the political circles with the DMK alleging that the protest was an attempt to run down the State government.
DMK deputy general secretary and MP, A Raja, in a statement on Tuesday, said that there had been no violence against the Brahmin community in the past four years in the State that had not witnessed any no caste clash or communal riot with people of all communities living in amity and enjoying the freedom to practice the trade of their choice.
However, the protest was organized by creating a false impression that the Brahmin community was facing threats when the truth of the matter was that the State Government under M K Stalin was treating all people equally with an objective of providing everything for everybody, he said.
The government did not believe in hate politics but followed the basic tenets of the DMK to usher in an equal society with no discrimination, abhor violence and overcome poverty, he said, adding that the demand raised through the protest in Chennai was specious because all top government posts, private sector jobs and overseas employment opportunities were enjoyed by the Brahmin community.
Yet, they were demanding protection through an act, which not only belittled the provisions of the SC & ST Prevention of Atrocities Act but was aimed at diluting the legal protection given through the Act to people belonging to the oppressed communities, he said.
Regretting the comment made by Kasthuri, who was one of the speakers at the protest venue, that Telugu speaking women came to Tamil Nadu 300 years back to serve as workers in the harems of the kings, the DMK MP also condemned her statement that people belonging to the oppressed classes indulge in corruption when they obtain jobs in the government through reservation.
Attempts to gain political mileage through hate politics and besmirch the image of the Dravidian Model government would not yield fruits because the government did not believe in hate politics but only strove to provide everything for everyone and also uplift the downtrodden, he said.
Raja alleged that the protest was organized to disrupt the social peace in the State where people lived as brothers and sisters, to launch a smear campaign against the government and to create panic in society.
Many other social media activists also picked on the speakers at the protests for making denigrating comments against the leaders of the Dravidian movement and Kasthuri was trolled for her remarks though she said that she did not mean to hurt anyone's sentiments.
