CHENNAI: Transwomen and allies of the queer community condemned actor Kasturi’s controversial tweet, and staged a protest outside her residence on Saturday. On Thursday, Kasturi, commenting on the split verdict on disqualification case of 18 MLAs, tweeted patronisingly asking if split verdict meant “ounbathu (9)”. The tweet, typed in Tamil, was accompanied by a picture of two transwomen.
The tweet stirred an immediate controversy, with transwomen and their allies criticising it as insensitive and written in bad taste. Many twitterati demanded that she remove her tweet immediately. However, she retorted claiming that it was a joke and people should take it in a spirit of humour. She removed the original tweet and said she did so only because she realised that twitter was not a platform that accepted her humour. She further said her joke came under the genre of “stand-up”comedy, a genre of humour she claimed crossed the edge of being politically correct.
However, protesters said the tweet was anything but funny. “Kasturi was the chief guest for this year’s Koovagam festival. It was disheartening to see that someone who we thought respected us at the outset, held deep contempt for us on the inside,” said Renuka Devi, a transwoman and an activist.
Protestors said more and more people use criticism against their community for political gain. “Even after she deleted the tweet, she did not apologise. She argued that she was funny and that people were not sportive enough to understand that,” said Srijith Sundaram, a transactivist and a theatre artist, adding that the protest was mobilised to question that complacence.