MTC crew welcoming Irula couple by washing their feet with milk draws flak

In the video, the driver and conductor of route 242 which plies between Redhills and Perambur Railway station cleaned the feet of a couple belonging to the Irular community and smeared their feet with kumkum and turmeric powder. 

They were even garlanded while someone video recorded the whole event staged in front of the bus. Though the bus crew’s effort was to gain cheap publicity over the controversy, it seemed to have backfired with netizens criticizing them for their unwarranted actions. 

“One cannot expect equality from people who do such milk abhishekam. Take action against such people too @RRajakannappan, “ Vinooth tweeted.

Many social media users asked the conductors and drivers to treat all the people equally rather than indulging in such publicity stunts. 

“We just need to treat them equally. These are too much and great insults. We need appropriate action on those transport workers. @CMOTamilnadu @mkstalin @RRajakannappan, “ Satheesh, another Twitterati posted.

The driver and conductor of a TNSTC bus have been suspended for forcibly deboarding a family from the Nari Kuravar community in the Nagercoil district. A video of the incident was uploaded to social media sites, and following the outrage online, the TNSTC put out a statement saying that the driver and conductor of the bus traveling from Vadasery to Tirunelveli have been suspended.

On the fisherwomen issue, chief minister MK Stalin denounced the discrimination of fisherwomen abroad on a bus in Kanyakumari and criticized the conductor's action. Later the bus driver, conductor, and timekeeper were suspended.