CHENNAI: Social Welfare and Women Empowerment minister Geetha Jeevan issued a statement condemning AIADMK MP C Ve Shanmugam for his controversial remarks, saying it degraded women while criticising DMK’s welfare schemes.
While addressing AIADMK cadre in Villupuram recently, Shanmugam had said many more freebie promises could be expected from DMK as the elections were approaching, adding every person may be given a free wife.
The minister said Shanmugam’s remarks comparing women with freebies were “disgusting” and that the DMK government is implementing various welfare schemes for the empowerment of women.
Stating that comparing women with freebies reflected AIADMK’s misogyny, she asked, “Had former CM Jayalalithaa been alive, would Shanmugam have dared to speak like this? Jayalalithaa would have completely ended his political career.”
The minister also recalled how AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had earlier ridiculed the buses plying under the Vidiyal Payanam scheme offering free travel for women as “lipstick buses”.