Tamil Nadu Forest Minister K Ponmudy (File).
Tamil Nadu's Forest Minister K Ponmudy's misogynistic remarks - laced with caste undertones -have landed Chief Minister MK Stalin and his DMK in controversy, inviting fierce criticism from women's rights activists, opposition political parties, and even from within the ruling party.
Mr Ponmudy - whom Mr Stalin re-inducted into the Cabinet last year, after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in a 2011 disproportionate assets case - has been sacked as the DMK's Deputy General Secretary. He has not, so far, been sacked from his ministerial post.
At least two senior leaders - the DMK's K Kanimozhi and the BJP's Khusbu Sundar - have demanded Mr Ponmudy be held accountable for "unacceptable" and "disgusting" remarks. The BJP leader also demanded Mr Stalin uphold publicly made commitments to women's rights and sack his minister.
In her X post, Ms Kanimozhi, the DMK's Lok Sabha rep from Thoothukudi wrote, "Minister Ponmudy's recent speech is unacceptable. Regardless of the reason... such vulgar remarks are condemnable."
Khusbu Sundar took on the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in her post, daring Mr Stalin, "... will you ever have the guts to throw him out of his chair and position? Or (do) you and your party find sadistic pleasures in insulting women and Hinduism in making such disgusting comments?"
"I know it's part of your new culture... but I would like to know if the women in your household approve of these insults when they visit temples... is this your brain working overtime or not working at all?"
K Annamalai, the BJP's outgoing state unit boss, has also attacked the DMK, labelling "the entire DMK ecosystem is vulgar, foul-mouthed, and uncouth". The Chief Minister must "hang his head in shame for leading this disgraceful pack," Mr Annamalai raged.
This controversy broke after a video of a speech by Mr Ponmudy went viral.
In the video - which NDTV cannot independently verify - he is heard sharing a vulgar conversation, labelled misogynistic and demeaning to women, between a man and a sex worker. He prefaces it with a disclaimer asking women present to not "mistake him."
The shocking comments have also been called out by popular singer and women's rights activist Chinmayi Sripada, who said, "This is a joke. The joke is on us."
"This is Minister of Forests... Mr Ponmudi from Tamil Nadu. He previously held posts as a Minister for Science and Tech, and Education... He describes a 'joke' because apparently there is a 'market' for these jokes in a public gathering..." she lamented in a strong X post.
"Such a speech must have demanded the photo of (EV) Periyar in the background," she said, referring to EV Periyar, the leader of the Dravidian movement that underpins the Tamil political narrative and landscape, and who fought for women's rights and the eradication of caste.
"This is a joke. The joke is on us. No wonder... they are all hand-in-glove with molester poetttttu. There has GOT to be some sort of a divinity... or Goddess or God... that will punish this and raze this to the ground. But (it) doesn't look like such a God exists," Ms Sripada said.
This is not the first time K Ponmudy has courted controversy.
Earlier, he made insensitive remarks about women availing free bus rides and referred to migrant workers as "those selling pani puri in Tamil Nadu." But this latest Ponmudy controversy comes as the DMK is prepping for a potentially critical Assembly election early next year.
The ruling party has, so far, been on the offensive, targeting the BJP on three major fronts - 'Hindi imposition', delimitation of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies, and the NEET row.
On the latter front the Tamil Nadu government's battle for exemption from the all-India examination faced a setback this month after President Droupadi Murmu rejected a key bill.
READ | In NEET Row, Setback For Tamil Nadu After Centre Nixes Exemption Bill
Mr Stalin and his DMK have also gone head-to-head with the BJP on delimitation, which they have argued will reduce parliamentary representation for the southern states, and the 'imposition' of Hindi via the 'three-language formula' in the new National Education Policy.
With input from agencies
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