Tamil Nadu CM Vijay slams 'double-meaning' remarks against women, invokes Jayalalithaa insult after Trisha row | India News

Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay on Monday asserted that he will not tolerate any abusive language or defamatory remarks against women he credited with his assembly election victory earlier this year."We need to think about the extent to which everyone is exercising their freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Politically, anyone can criticise anyone. The people are watching everything live. But in the name of politics, if we personally demean our people, women, or anyone else and speak in a very low and degrading manner, my request is: please don’t do that. This is a general request to everyone,” he said in the state assembly.The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief, who made his political debut and came to power in May, did not mention any names but his comments came days after senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader Udhayanidhi Stalin made offensive remarks against actor Trisha Krishnan, who is believed to be a friend of Vijay.Also Read | ‘Drama at this age is embarrassing’: Trisha Krishnan makes 1st post after Udhayanidhi Stalin remark controversy"Recently, in Tamil Nadu, it seems as though a river of vulgarity is continuously flowing. A river of hatred is continuously flowing. The people are watching all of this. Speaking abusively about women, making defamatory remarks, and using double-meaning words—this is wrong,” the chief minister said.He also made a reference to former chief minister Jayalalithaa’s 'humiliation' in the assembly in 1989. “I want to tell those who do this just one thing. We have heard about how much humiliation former chief minister Jayalalithaa, as a woman, faced in this very Assembly, from this very Opposition... For 50 years, the same people have been voting for them. But when those same people did not vote for them, they say that those people will not even have a good death. If they cannot accept the people’s verdict even in their minds, then the question naturally arises: why should they remain in politics? At least, we must respect the people’s verdict.”Also Read | ‘Never mentioned Trisha’: DMK after Udhayanidhi detained over allegedly offensive remarksLast month, a controversy broke out when Udhayanidhi was speaking at a rally meant to press the state government on the Cauvery water sharing – a century-old irritant in relations between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. As the crowd chanted the name of Trisha, Udhayanidhi made an obscene remark.On the following day, Udhayanidhi was arrested from his residence in Chennai at 10am and taken to Thanjavur, where he had made the controversial comment. The DMK subsequently hit the streets and approached the Madras high court, following which the former state minister was released.“They arrested me for nothing. I have not said anything wrong. I have not said anything wrong against anybody,” Udhayanidhi had said after his release.Also Read | ‘My words had only one meaning’: Udhayanidhi Stalin rejects Trisha remark allegations, calls Vijay's TVK a ‘circus’The incident was the first major political face-off in Tamil Nadu since Vijay’s shock victory in the assembly elections this summer. The row also saw the DMK, somewhat listless after it lost allies to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), rally behind the former deputy chief minister.Days after Udhayanidhi’s comments, AIADMK leader RB Udhayakumar stoked fresh controversy when he took a jibe at the Vijay government over the cabinet appointments.“Annai (Mother) Tamil Nadu is now waiting in shock and anticipation to see when an announcement will be made appointing our chief minister’s beloved Trisha as the deputy chief minister of Tamil Nadu,” he said.