Dayanidhi Maran has once again stoked controversy for mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On July 27, 2024, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP led protests across Tamil Nadu, accusing the Union Budget 2024 of neglecting the state.
Taking part in the protest, Dayanidhi Maran said, “The one who had stated that he would like to be reborn as a Tamilian in his next birth and one who spoke Tamil, who said it, KD Modi.”
இவனையெல்லாம் இந்த அளவு பேச விட்டது யார் தவறு?
பிரதமரின் நகக்கண் அழுக்குக்குக் கூட சமம் இல்லாத ஜென்மங்கள் எல்லாம் இப்படி தரம் தாழ்ந்து பேசுது என்றால் அதுகளின் வளர்ப்பு அப்படி!
நாய் வாலை நிமிர்த்த முடியுமா என்ன? pic.twitter.com/yhkMoPHF8K— Sowdha Mani (@SowdhaMani7) July 29, 2024
KD stands for “Known Dacoit” (sometimes also “Known Delinquent” or “Known Depredator”). Pre-Independence, the Indian police started using the phrase to classify criminals who were known to them.
The former Union Telecom Minister, who is facing a CBI case for an illegal BSNL telephone exchange case, said, “They said they will get 400+ seats, but they got only 240, so they need the help of 2 giants – Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar. Was he (Modi) justified in his actions? He gave Rs35000 crores to Nitish Kumar for flood relief. Bihar is a Hindi-speaking state, so he gave that amount. Do you know how he screwed Naidu? He gave him Rs16000 crores – that too, how do you know? .. This Modi Government always gives more and more to the Hindi-speaking states only. Non-Hindi speaking states are being avenged by the Modi Government.”
He said, “I told him to take lessons from our CM, Dravidian CM, MK Stalin. When Stalin became the Chief Minister, he said, ‘I will work not only for the people who voted for me but also for the people who did not vote for me; it is my duty.’ Shouldn’t you (Modi) also do the same? If you come here and talk about caste and religion, will we accept you? They always speak about Thirukkural.”
Dayanidhi Maran turned his focus on Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and said, “The one who reads the budget, every single time, this Nirmala is there no, she always quotes a Thirukkural. This time, she neither quoted a Kural (couplet) nor Tamil or Tamil Nadu. When they did not get votes from here (TN), they did this. I don’t know where this lady Nirmala Sitharaman studied on this earth. She created a new “East“. She says Bihar is East, Andhra Pradesh is East, and others are not. West Bengal is not East for her, nor is Odisha. … This is cheating. Nirmala Sitharaman has created a new earth.”
The DMK MP said, “I asked her, what this, madam is? Why are you saying this? Who elected you? She is not an elected member but a nominated member. So, she is not worried about the problems faced by the people.” Earlier in 2023, he addressed Sitharaman as “Nirmala mami” during a “day-long” fast against NEET and then pretended to have said it inadvertently. The word Mami is used as a slur and in a derogatory fashion, especially by Dravidian ideologues when addressing Tamil Brahmin women in Tamil Nadu.
In April 2024, at the height of the election campaigning, Maran called Modi’s roadshows “a circus.” Dayanidhi Maran said, “There is a joker, what is his name? “Aatukutty” (lamb) (referring to the derogatory name given to Annamalai by Dravidianists). He went there for the lamb’s sake. Both Chennai and Coimbatore got “naamam” (a derogatory representation of the Vaishnavite mark on the forehead connected to cheating. When interviewed by journalists during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Maran addressed TN BJP chief K Annamalai as a joker and pretended not to have heard of him.
Dayanidhi Maran has made very casteist jibes against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. He used words like “Unga thopanaar” to indicate Sitharaman’s father (in a language/dialect used by Brahmins in TN) when speaking in Parliament in February 2024 about the central government aid to TN for the floods.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police registered a case against DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, based on a complaint by G Jaganathan, for making derogatory remarks about oppressed caste people during the Covid-19 pandemic at the Secretariat in May 2020.
Critics feel “it is the high times that Central government took action against Dayanidhi Maran for referring PM Modi as KD and in other pending cases including illegal BSNL telephone exchange case. This and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram cases in SC never come up for hearing in the cause list reasons better known to all. If some concrete action is taken it would deter others from making such comments and indulging in corrupt activities”.
