Renowned poet and lyricist Vairamuthu has been awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award, becoming the third Tamil writer to receive the country's highest literary honour.
Singer Chinmayi Sripaada, who was one of the many women to name Vairamuthu during the MeToo movement, has called out Rajinikanth for praising the lyricist after the honour.
Chinmayi questioned Vairamuthu's Jnanpith honour, stating that the collective voices of women who named him as their molester were silenced, and she paid a heavy price for speaking out.
She also referenced Ashapoorna Devi, the first woman writer to be honoured by India with the Jnanpith Award, who asked questions about the society's tolerance of unjustifiable actions from men and the denial of women's rights.
Chinmayi asked a similar question, 'Why do men feel no pain when women are subjected to psychological trauma?'
Rajinikanth congratulated Vairamuthu on the honour, but Chinmayi called him out, stating that men in power will never be on the side of women who have been traumatised.
