Poet and lyricist Vairamuthu was conferred with the prestigious Jnanpith Award on Saturday. Congratulatory messages poured in, including from Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. Singer Chinmayi Sripaada, who named the lyricist as an alleged abuser during the MeToo movement, called out the Tamil stars for it. Since then, she has faced a barrage of trolling equating her support for Trisha Krishnan to Rajinikanth-Kamal lauding Vairamuthu. (Also Read: After Kamal Haasan, Chinmayi Sripaada calls out Rajinikanth for lauding Vairamuthu after Jnanpith honour)
It all begins with a ‘like’ on Trisha Krishnan’s post
Trisha and actor-politician Vijay recently made waves when they wore matching outfits and turned up together at a wedding reception in Chennai. It came days after Vijay’s wife, Sangeeta Sornalingam, applied for divorce and cited infidelity. After attending the wedding, Trisha posted solo pictures in her gold-and-cream saree, writing, “Thank you for always being my go-to people (heart emoji).” Chinmayi was among the more than 2 million people who ‘liked’ the post.
And ends with equating alleged relationship to alleged abuse
Soon after Chinmayi publicly called out Rajinikanth and Kamal on X (formerly Twitter), it did not take long for trolls to use this ‘like’ as proof of the singer’s supposed ‘fake’ feminism. Reacting to the post of Chinmayi calling out Kamal, one troll wrote, “just like you standing with Trisha!?” She replied, “Typical rapist protector false equivalence. I wish you the Vairamuthus of the world and the harassment (minus the sexual abuse which I dont wish on anyone).”
When they still persisted that she hadn’t answered, she hit back, “What next? Asking the family of the child raped in Thoothukudi? Or the family of those dead in custodial deaths? Or the women and the girl raped by Asaram Bapu? Or the 35 women in DMK’s Rajiv Gandhi’s sexual harassment complaint?” And yet, the trolling did not subside.
Chinmayi says these trolls are like Epstein protectors
Chinmayi also had to call out a page that claimed she took Trisha’s side due to caste or friendship, terming it ‘selective bashing’ that she held Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan accountable. She slammed them, writing, “How many of you are in the PR machinery to stand with a molester or really do you have zero gray matter between your ears in your skull to not understand what Sexual harassment is and POWERFUL MEN IN POLITICS PUBLICLY PRAISING A MAN NAMED BY 17 WOMEN?”
She also added, “Stop doing drama about Epstein files then. There is no difference between your lot and the Epstein protectors in the US. That’s why I keep saying, India must have its own Epstein list and you all will come out to protect your own.” Not just that, Chinmayi was also barraged by people questioning why she hadn’t taken legal action against Vairamuthu if her claims against him were true. The singer had to remind them of the formal complaint she had registered with the National Council for Women, along with documentation confirming its submission.
“Tamilians on Twitter here and their urgency to run to the support of a molester named by 17+ women is the greatest joke. Murpokku (progressive) Feminist Tamilnadu will always remain as the only place in the world to FORMALLY BAN a woman from working for just naming a molester,” she wrote, summing it up.
