CHENNAI: BJP state president Nainar Nagendran on Thursday lashed out at DMK leaders for their alleged derogatory remarks against women availing the State government's Vidiyal Payanam (free bus travel) scheme.
In a sharply worded statement on social media, Nagendran condemned Andipatti DMK MLA A Maharajan for referring to women who travel without paying bus fares as "OCs" — a colloquial abbreviation suggesting freeloaders.
"This is not an isolated incident," Nagendran said, recalling that former DMK minister K Ponmudy had previously made similar comments.
"DMK MP D M Kathir Anand demeaned women by saying, 'You are beautiful only because you received Rs 1,000', while senior minister Duraimurugan crudely stated in the Assembly, 'Rs 1,000 for the mother, Rs 1,000 for the daughter', " he said.
Criticising the DMK's flagship cash and travel assistance schemes, Nagendran said, "Rolling out welfare initiatives and flaunting them with heavy publicity, only to later ridicule the beneficiaries, is a hallmark of the so-called Dravidian model."
He further questioned the government's priorities. "Why don't DMK leaders show the same enthusiasm to repair broken-down buses or ensure that every eligible woman receives the promised Rs 1,000?"
Slamming the ruling party for its "elitist and condescending tone," the BJP leader said it was unacceptable to mock the very people these schemes are meant to uplift.
"Power should not be used as a license to humiliate the common citizen," added Nainar Nagendran.