Latest news with #Ponmudi
Hindustan Times
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
‘Politicians believe they are kings': HC slams TN police over closing complaints against Ponmudi
Political leaders wrongly believe they are the kings who can do no wrong, the Madras high court remarked on Tuesday as it criticised former Tamil Nadu minister K Ponmudi for 'misusing' free speech and questioned the state police's decision to close over 120 complaints against the DMK leader for his alleged vulgar comments about women, and Hindu sects Shaivites and Vaishnavites. The HC uestioned the state police's decision to close over 120 complaints against the DMK leader for his alleged vulgar comments about women, and Hindu sects Shaivites and Vaishnavites. (File photo) A single bench of justice P Velmurugan reminded Ponmudi, who had to resign from the cabinet on April 27 following the outrage over his remarks, that politicians were not above the law. The court also decided to keep pending its suo motu proceedings against the leader. 'Nowadays, all politicians, all persons making public speeches think Article 19 gives them absolute only sky is the limit. Court cannot simply be a silent spectator. There are reasonable restrictions. There are several sects, religious (public figures) should think about it, when they are in public life,' the judge remarked. '…A strong message should go. So many things are being said, as if they (politicians) are the kings of this country. Whatever they say, they think they can do no wrong. The Court cannot watch these things silently,' the judge added. Justice Velmurugan made the observations after advocate general PS Raman, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, told the court that the state police had examined over 120 complaints registered against Ponmudi following his comments. The police concluded that the former minister had not committed any offence but had merely 'repeated something that had been said decades ago.' Therefore, the police had decided to 'close all complaints' against Ponmudi in the case, Raman told the court. During an event on April 8 this year, Ponmudi had recited a joke linking the religious forehead markings of Shaivites and Vaishnavites to sexual positions, provoking widespread outrage. The joke also referenced a sex worker, drawing further condemnation. Soon after, justice N Anand Venkatesh of the high court initiated suo motu proceedings and directed the police to register an FIR against Ponmudi. Justice Venkatesh had noted that Ponmudi's comments were 'prima facie hate speech, derogatory to women, and offensive to religious communities.' On Tuesday, Justice Velmurugan questioned the legality of the closure of complaints at the stage of preliminary inquiry, saying police cannot decide whether the speech amounts to hate speech 'without a formal investigation.' The judge cautioned the police that if all the original complainants in the case were not informed about the closure of their cases, the court will act strictly against the state. 'We will keep the suo motu case pending. You will have to get acknowledgements from the complainants for closing their complaints. If any person comes and says they have not been served with notice before closing, this court will come down heavily,' justice Velmurugan said, listing the matter for further hearing on August 1. Ponmudi, who was removed by the DMK as the party deputy general secretary following his remarks and later dropped from the cabinet, had previously admitted to making the remarks but maintained he had just narrated a widely known anecdote. Justice Venkatesh, however, remarked at the time: 'These comments spew venom on Hindu sects and demean the moral worth of women,' adding that they may attract multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
News18
08-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
'Can't Be Mere Spectators': Madras HC Slams Ponmudi Over Obscene Remarks Insulting Hindu Sects
Hearing the matter, Justice P Velmurugan slammed the DMK minister and said, "Nowadays these politicians feel that sky is the limit under Article 19." The Madras High Court on Tuesday took up the suo motu case initiated over controversial remarks made by Tamil Nadu DMK Minister K Ponmudi on the tilaks of the Hindu sects, Saivites and Vaishnavites. Hearing the matter, Justice P Velmurugan slammed the DMK minister and said, 'Nowadays these politicians feel that sky is the limit under Article 19. We can't be mere spectators. We live in a democracy with many communities." 'When they're coming to public, they must realise that they're living in a country which is meant for every person. It's not meant for any particular person. Not for the politician alone. Everyone must realise that they're living among the people," he added. Earlier in April, Justice Venkatesh took serious note of the issue after an extract of the video containing Ponmudy's remarks was played in open court by a lawyer, during the hearing of a 2023 suo motu revision petition taken up by the court against the minister's acquittal in a case of disproportionate assets. This case was also initiated by justice Venkatesh. Ponmudi, Tamil Nadu Forest Minister and senior DMK leader, landed into a major controversy for his speech at a public event, in which he made remarks linking Hindu religious identities with sexual positions. In a viral video from the event, Ponmudi was heard saying, 'Women, please don't misunderstand," before narrating a joke where a man visits a sex worker, who then asks the man whether he is a Shaivite or Vaishnavite. DMK MP Kanimozhi condemned the statement by Ponmudi. In a post on X, she wrote, 'Minister Ponmudi's recent speech is unacceptable. Regardless of the reason for the speech, such vulgar remarks are condemnable." Following the controversy, the DMK removed Ponmudi from the post of deputy general secretary of the party. First Published: July 08, 2025, 12:33 IST
The Print
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Print
As 2 ministers resign, Stalin applies poll arithmetic in Tamil Nadu cabinet reshuffle ahead of 2026
The Nadar community is dominant in the southern districts, a region where the ruling DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Opposition AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) are fighting to widen their support base. The region has previously been a stronghold of the AIADMK. Thangaraj is the ruling party's MLA from Padmanabhapuram and, according to government sources, is likely to be given the milk and dairy development ministry that he held between 2023 and 2024. Chennai: With Tamil Nadu headed for assembly elections next year, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has rejigged his cabinet, keeping political considerations in mind. Following the resignation of K. Ponmudi and V. Senthil Balaji as ministers Sunday, Stalin Monday reinducted former minister Mano Thangaraj from the Christian Nadar community, increasing the count of Nadars in the cabinet to four. The incumbent cabinet has three ministers from the backward Nadar community, as well as the assembly speaker. The milk and dairy development ministry is currently held by R.S. Raja Kannappan, who is likely to be allotted the forest and khadi departments that were held by Ponmudi. Raja Kannappan hails from the backward Tamil Yadavar community—another group dominant in the southern districts. The Tamil Nadu cabinet reshuffle had been necessitated after Balaji and Ponmudi resigned in the wake of adverse comments made by courts against them this month. Balaji held the electricity, prohibition and excise departments. Ponmudi and Balaji have been facing allegations of graft, while four other DMK ministers face charges of having disproportionate assets. Government sources said that state transport minister S.S. Sivasankar, from the Vanniyar community, is likely to be given the additional charge of electricity, while minister for housing and urban development S. Muthusamy, from Kongu Vellalar community, is to be given prohibition and excise as an additional department. The swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers will take place Monday evening at Raj Bhavan. According to political analysts, the reinduction of Thangaraj, from southern Kanyakumari district, and reshuffle of prominent departments to Raja Kannappan ahead of the election points to the DMK's desperation to retain its southern support base won over in the previous state election. Political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy told ThePrint that DMK leader Stalin's move was meant to appease voters in the southern districts in the wake of the AIADMK making efforts to win back its lost fort in Tamil Nadu's south. 'The 10.5% (internal) reservation (among the Most Backward Classes) for the Vanniyars (given by the AIADMK and later struck down by court), and breakaway of TTV Dhinakaran from the AIADMK had cost the party dearly in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Thus, its performance in the 2021 assembly election and 2024 Lok Sabha election was poor in the southern region,' he explained. 'But now, they are slowly regaining their lost support as they have formed a strong alliance, which includes Dhinakaran. Hence, the DMK is also giving prominence to leaders in the southern district,' he added. Also Read: DMK minister Ponmudi removed from party post amid row over vulgar remarks on Shaivism & Vaishnavism Fight for southern Tamil Nadu According to political analysts, the southern districts of Tamil Nadu have favoured AIADMK since the 1970s, and this support increased in the late 1990s. Raveendran said the support of Thevars (an Other Backward Class community dominant in the southern districts) dwindled after the demise of AIADMK supremo and former CM J. Jayalalithaa in 2016, and was gained by the DMK in the 2021 election. Out of 60 seats contested in the southern districts, the AIADMK that year managed to win only 16. Raveendran asserted that the DMK's move to bring in a Nadar community member (Thangaraj) into the cabinet, and give prominent departments to another minister from the southern parts (Raja Kannappan) was meant to consolidate its support base. 'AIADMK's Thevar vote bank is now split into multiple parties and the only way to gain majority in the state is with the help of other communities in the region. The move to give additional importance to Nadar and Yadavar will help the DMK ahead of the 2026 polls,' he told ThePrint. According to political analyst Arun, it all started with former CM M.G. Ramachandran, who had first made Thevar Jayanthi a government-sponsored event in 1979. He was the first CM to participate in the event, largely celebrated by the people of the Thevar community. 'Although electoral politics is based on caste calculations, M.G.R.'s move to celebrate Thevar Jayanthi as a government-sponsored event got him more support from the community. Subsequently, the support increased in the late 1990s, after the DMK government took some serious action against caste violence in the southern districts,' Arun told ThePrint. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: With statue of 'genius' Karl Marx in Chennai, Stalin looks to nurture Dravidian-Left movement link
