Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is preparing for a keenly anticipated Assembly election in 2026 that he wants to fight on the strength of an efficient economy and high-profile welfare schemes, including free bus travel for women and monthly payments to women-led households. But the potential high dividend from women voters is threatened by some of his party colleagues, including senior ministers who engage in a brand of coarse, insulting and gender-insensitive humour towards them.
The latest to give Stalin a headache is his confidant and forests minister K. Ponmudy, who made a public joke connecting women sex workers and religious symbols used by Saivite and Vaishnavite Hindu sects. The remarks prompted the Madras High Court to direct the police to file an FIR against him and report by April 23.
The minister, earlier, taunted women at a public meeting about the zero-fare bus travel freebie, which is paid for through general taxation and has particularly benefited low wage women workers, causing wide dismay. Another heavyweight minister, Durai Murugan, ridiculed the physically handicapped in public remarks and later apologised, but followed up with a jibe at North Indian women, who he said were open to polyandry.
These insensitive off-the-cuff comments don’t advance political fortunes and have rocked the DMK even as the party and its allies brace for an electoral battle against the AIADMK backed by the BJP and, potentially, a wider opposition front.
Ponmudy, who has been caught up in a case of disproportionate assets, was relieved of the party deputy general secretaryship over the latest remarks but was retained in the cabinet. At a cabinet meeting, Stalin also chose to merely exhort his ministers to not spoil the DMK’s reputation.
This homily is no different from comments he made two years ago, likening himself to a drum that was being beaten on both sides, one by the opponents and the other by his own ministers whose actions were a source of embarrassment.
Evidently, the chief minister does not want to axe Ponmudy because of his proximity and clout in some North Tamil Nadu districts, but it is becoming painfully evident that, unlike M. Karunanidhi, he is unable to rein in regional chieftains.
Actor Rajnikant once described such senior ministers as students who refuse to leave the class even after they have completed their term and scored a pass. Politics, of course, sustains much-loved incumbents across many terms, but the arrival of younger entrants on the scene should pave the way for a timely exit for the old order.
The abrasive comments made by senior ministers like Ponmudy, rooted in a feudal past, underscore the considerable ground that Tamil Nadu’s politics has to cover to call itself truly developed. Ponmudy should spare the Dravida model government further embarrassment and resign.
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