Tamil Nadu women deserve better: DMK's pattern of disrespect can't be ignored

Rejecting the DMK in future elections is not about aligning with another party—it's about drawing a line in the sand. It's about declaring that no matter how powerful a party may be, it cannot and will not thrive if it continues to fail half the population.

- SAVIO RODRIGUES

Tamil Nadu has long taken pride in its progressive heritage—especially its historic movements for social justice and equality. Yet, recent incidents involving members of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) reflect a troubling disconnect between those ideals and the everyday reality for women in the state.

At the centre of this disquiet is Tamil Nadu's Higher Education Minister, K. Ponmudi, who reportedly made a deeply derogatory statement likening women to prostitutes—a remark that, if left unchallenged, strikes at the core of women's dignity across Tamil Nadu.

This isn't an isolated slip of the tongue. Rather, it's part of a larger, disturbing pattern—one of misogyny, indifference, and political arrogance—that women in Tamil Nadu can no longer afford to ignore.

Ponmudi, a senior leader in the DMK, sparked outrage with his comment equating women's morality to that of sex workers, ostensibly as a political analogy. Regardless of his intent—be it rhetorical or metaphorical—the comparison was offensive, elitist, and unapologetically sexist.

That such language is being used by a public official in 2025, when the political discourse should centre on women's dignity, safety, and equality, is not just irresponsible—it's dangerous.

This kind of rhetoric reinforces a deeply patriarchal worldview—one that reduces women to moral symbols to be judged, controlled, and discarded when politically inconvenient. For some political leaders, it seems, women are nothing more than props in their speeches—useful for theatrics, but irrelevant when it comes to respect.