Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin on Friday “relieved” K Ponmudy from the “party’s deputy general secretary post” following uproar over the latter’s remarks on women, Shaivites and Vaishnavites.
While Stalin, the Tamil Nadu chief minister, did not attribute any reason for removing Ponmudy from the party post, he named Rajya Sabha member Tiruchi Siva as Ponmudy’s replacement.
A statement issued by the party said, “K Ponmudy is removed from the post of DMK’s deputy general secretary.”
Later, a second statement was issued that said, “Trichy Siva is appointed as the DMK’s deputy secretary.”
Ponmudy is the state forest minister.
Siva, meanwhile, was relieved from his Propaganda Secretary post as per party rules, Stalin said in the statement.
The development came days after the minister sought to draw an analogy between a sex worker and Hindu religious symbols associated with Shaivite and Vaishnavite sects. The comments led to a controversy, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanding Ponmudy’s sacking from the cabinet. A purported video of his remarks has been widely shared on social media.
BJP’s national information and technology department in-charge Amit Malviya alleged that Ponmudy has taken the “baton of Hindu-bashing forward” after deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin’s attack on Sanatans Dharma last year.
“…his remarks were not just offensive — they were deliberately insulting to the core beliefs of two major Hindu sects,” he said on X. “The pattern is clear. Whether it’s DMK, Congress, TMC, or RJD—members of the I.N.D.I. Alliance seem united not by ideology, but by a shared disdain for Hindu beliefs and a relentless pursuit of minority appeasement. Their politics thrives on insult, provocation, and calculated disrespect toward the majority community.”
Malviya added that this was not Ponmudy’s first brush with controversy. “In 2022, he targeted Hindi speakers in Tamil Nadu, belittling them as panipuri sellers—another example of his divisive rhetoric,” the BJP leader said.
While there was no response from Ponmudy on Friday’s development, his party colleague Kanimozhi said, “The recent speech of minister Ponmudy is not acceptable.”
“For whatever reason he had spoken, such vulgar words are condemnable,” she said in a post on X.
State BJP leader K Annamalai said DMK leaders “are sadly mistaken” if they think people will move on following Ponmudy’s removal from the party post.
“This is DMK’s standard of political discourse in Tamil Nadu… Thiru Ponmudi was once the Higher Education Minister of Tamil Nadu & now Minister for Forests and Khadi, and the youth of Tamil Nadu are expected to tolerate this filth? Not just this Minister, the entire DMK ecosystem is vulgar, foul-mouthed, and uncouth…” he said in a post on ‘X.