Poet and lyricist Vairamuthu has been selected for the prestigious Jnanpith Award, becoming the third Tamil writer to receive the country’s highest literary honour. Singer Chinmayi Sripaada, who was one among many to name the lyricist during the MeToo movement, called out Rajinikanth for praising the lyricist after the honour. Before that, she also called out Kamal Haasan for doing the same.
Chinmayi questions Vairamuthu’s Jnanpith honour, calls out Rajinikanth
In 2018, multiple women named Vairamuthu during the MeToo movement, including Chinmayi. The musician wrote about it after the news was announced, “In 2018, multiple women of different age groups named one Poet – Lyricist as their molester.” She also added, “The collective voices of the women who named him, were silenced. I paid a very heavy price – the rest of the women who left their dreams behind weren’t half as lucky as I.”
In another post, she also wrote, “Ashapoorna Devi was the first woman writer to be honored by India with the Jnanpith Award. Reading Chinmayi on X brought back memories of her. These were the questions Ashapoorna Devi raised while accepting the Jnanpith: ”Why does this society tolerate so many unjustifiable actions from men? Why are women’s rights denied in every sphere of life? Why must they live suffocated within the darkness of inner quarters?” Ashapoorna Devi asked, “Why?” Half a century later, Chinmayi Sripaada asks as well: “Why is it that you feel no pain when women are subjected to psychological trauma?””
When Rajinikanth congratulated Vairamuthu for the honour and wrote in Tamil, “My heartfelt congratulations to my dear friend, the esteemed poet Vairamuthu, recipient of the great Jnanpith Award of our Indian nation. @Vairamuthu #JnanpithAward,” Chinmayi called him out, writing, “Ayyyyyyoooo!!! Puriyave puriyaadha (what a puzzle)??!”
Chinmayi says ‘men will never be on our side’
Kamal had also congratulated Vairamuthu, writing in Tamil, “Tamil literature, with its long tradition, has received the prestigious literary award, the Jnanpith, for the third time. After the previous Jnanpith received by Jayakanthan, after the passage of a quarter century, my uncle poet-emperor @Vairamuthu has added this great honor to Tamil. With the poetic words “The sky is a Bodhi tree for me; every day it gives me a message,” which fell into my ears, entered my heart, and mingled in friendship, I take pride in congratulating this friend.”
Chinmayi called him out, writing, “For God’s sake. P.S.: Men in such power in cinema transitioning to politics completely turning a deaf ear to women who come on record to say they were molested by “his uncle-mentor” must remind women who vote – that men will never be on our side. The weirdest thing – one of the women in his own party publicly named the Poet. End of the day, men WILL stand by their bros, uncles, dads, friends, mentors. Who cares if multiple women were traumatised?”
Vairamuthu became the third Tamil writer, after novelists Akilan (1975) and Jayakanthan (2002), to be honoured with the Jnanpith Award. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed immense joy over the announcement on X (formerly Twitter).
