‘About opportunities’: DMK defends Maran’s ‘clean toilets’ remark as BJP digs up old video

A war of words has erupted between the BJP and Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK after a video clip of an alleged derogatory remark made months ago by DMK Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran on workers hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was widely circulated on social media on Sunday (December 24).

In the video clip, Maran purportedly said that people in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who had learnt 'only Hindi', construct houses, clean roads, and toilets in Tamil Nadu, after learning Tamil. “This is the scenario if Hindi is learnt.”

As BJP flayed the party for the leader's remark, DMK spokesperson J Constandine Ravindran condemned BJP functionaries for deliberately spreading “falsehood”. “DMK is fully committed to an egalitarian society. No particular state like Tamil Nadu is superior. No other state like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar is inferior. The mala-fide intent of the BJP people is evident as they are claiming something that Dayanidhi Maran never said or meant,” Ravindran said.

While addressing an event in March this year, Maran had said that the study of both Tamil and English had been championed by his party all along and the people of Tamil Nadu followed it.

Citing the example of Sundar Pichai, a native of Tamil Nadu, Maran said he now heads Google and had he learnt Hindi, he would have been employed in the construction sector as a worker. Since children from Tamil Nadu get educated and learn English well, they find employment in the Information Technology sector and earn good salaries, he further commented.

BJP makes it a cause célèbre

The video clip showing Maran's alleged remark resurfaced on social media and the BJP said that the DMK MP's comment is very objectionable and has derogatory references to Hindi-speaking people. The reason for the matter cropping up now is unclear and could not be ascertained immediately.

In a post on X, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that this has become a habit of the DMK 'for sure'. Many leaders one after the other make such comments and earlier they attacked Sanatan Dharma too.

Poonawalla further said, “But the reason why Congress party and other parties of INDIA alliance are not saying anything is because, perhaps, they are all in it together." Tamil Nadu BJP vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy said, though it was an old remark, it shows the 'true colours' of DMK leaders who use abusive and derogatory language against north Indians.

“It is not a matter of surprise at all. It is happening now, in the present. It has also happened in the past. The DMK will continue it in the future as well," he said.

His party colleague Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, national spokesperson of the saffron party, demanded an explanation from RJD chief Lalu Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar. In an interview given to local media, Hussain said, “Lalu and Nitish should give an explanation on DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran’s remarks. How long will they humiliate Bihar … this is unpardonable.”

Hussain reposted the interview and also issued a statement in a video on X, formerly Twitter, and slamming the INDIA bloc parties wrote in Hindi, “Why the leaders of Ghamandia (INDIA bloc) are silent over the derogatory language used by the DMK leader against the Hindi speaking people of UP and Bihar. The humiliation of UP and Bihar will prove costly to the Ghamandia alliance parties.”

Maran's speech is about opportunities

DMK spokesperson Ravindran said the substance of Maran's speech is all about opportunities available to a person, when she or he, in addition to his mother tongue, also learnt the English language well, he said. Career opportunities that open up to a person with an English language background are more, not only in India but also elsewhere in the world, and this is the crux of Maran's remarks made months ago, Ravindran added.

RJD’s sharp reaction

Maran’s allegedly derogatory comments drew a sharp condemnation from RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. Yadav said like his party, the DMK believed in social justice and it was unbecoming of a leader of such a party to have made such remarks.

“Had the DMK MP highlighted caste iniquities, had he pointed out that only people from some social groups took up such hazardous jobs, it would have made sense,” the RJD leader, who shares personal rapport with Tamil Nadu MK Stalin, said.

“But to speak disparagingly of the entire populace of Bihar and UP is reprehensible. We condemn it. We believe that people should be respectful towards those coming from other parts of the country,” Yadav further stated, without mincing words. “We look upon DMK as a party which shares our ideal of social justice. Its leaders should avoid saying things that run counter to the ideal,” he added.