‘Dalit activist’ Meena Kandasamy has been in the news recently. The entire episode was sparked by a tweet of hers where she went on a rant against ‘Brahmin d*cks’. That hateful comment set in motion a chain of events that has culminated with the activist crying victim and her comrades jumping in to provide cover for her atrocious conduct.
After her hateful comment generated a lot of outrage, a statement made by her husband started doing the rounds on social media as well. According to a letter shared by independent journalist Deepika Bharadwaj, Dr Gunasekharan Dharmaraja, the former husband of Meena Kandasamy said that the activist had filed fake harassment against him after he had filed a case on her father for attacking him. Dharmaraja said he had proofs, emails written by her that disclose the real reason of separation between them.
Dr Dharmaraja also claimed that Kandasamy had faked her ‘Dalit’ credentials. He said, as per official records, the mother of Kandasamy belonged to the forward community while her father was an OBC. Naturally, those already calling her out on her hateful tweet latched on to the allegations made by Kandasamy’s husband. And amidst all of this, a statement by an obscure organization hardly anyone has heard of before, but being peddled by ‘journalists’ in the mainstream media, has voiced its support for Meena Kandasamy.
https://twitter.com/dhanyarajendran/status/1345019816067809282?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe ‘nuanced statement‘ by the Network of Women in Media (NWM) “strongly condemned” the alleged targeting and harassment of the supposed writer. It says, “She has consistently raised her voice against fascist forces, religious intolerance, and caste violence in her home state of Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.” The ‘fascist forces’ spoken of here is probably anyone that disagrees with the ideology of Che Guevera or Pol Pot.
The ‘fascist forces’ spoken of here are probably ordinary voters and supporters of the BJP who exercised their constitutionally guaranteed right in a manner not approved by the far-left. Kandasamy spends a significant deal of time on Twitter ranting against ‘Sanghi fascists’. She also resorted to calling people criticizing her anti-Brahmin comment as ‘Sanghi fascists’.
The statement further said, “Meena defended the piece and her right to be featured in it, enumerating her literary accomplishments. In response, aside from relentless trolling, some sections have sought to sully her reputation and muddy the waters by resorting to an attack on her character. She has been accused of misleading people about her caste and appropriating the struggles of Dalits in the process.”
NWM conveniently ignores the fact that Kandasamy has not been accused by people on social media of faking her Dalit credentials. The allegations were levelled by her former husband. It is a remarkable sleight of hand indeed. Allegations made by her former husband has been reduced to ‘trolling’ and somehow, has been linked to politics.
The statement states further, “Men’s Rights Activists have accused her of filing a false dowry harassment case against her ex-husband, and of trying to ‘extort’ him in order to drop the case. They have also accused Meena of delaying the case for six years. A perusal of the case status from 2014 to the present shows that the details of the case have been distorted. Such allegations and character assassination are some of the oldest tricks deployed to silence the voices of women.”
Again, it is not men’s rights activists who have made the accusations. It’s her former husband who has alleged that. One wonders why the NWM is attributing accusations made by her former husband to people on social media; unless, of course, the objective here is to muddy the waters so that the claims made by her former husband does not gain traction and in the process, portray her critics in poor light. It is dishonest on purpose.
Another sleight of hand is observed when the NWM claims, “The most egregious of accusations against Meena are that as a feminist she could not have been in an abusive marriage, and if she was in such a marriage, she could not be a feminist.” It is another deliberate twisting of the matter at hand. In reality, her former husband claimed that Meena Kandasamy gave dowry for her marriage and therefore, she could not claim to be a feminist.
“I also proclaim before the public that I neither demand nor support dowry. The claims you have made in the FIR concerning dowry, amongst others, is false. Therefore, by claiming to have given a dowry, you are either against the feminist ideals that you claim to stand for, or you are committing perjury by providing false information to the police and to the court of law,” stated Dr Dharamaraja.
Thus, it appears that NWM is commenting on the accusations made by Kandasamy’s husband but instead of addressing him as such, they are trying to brand him a troll. It is quite disgusting indeed. In the end, the NWM said, “Meena’s ideas and arguments should be countered with ideas and arguments. To harass, troll and character assassinate a woman for speaking her mind is to seek to silence her and the inconvenient truths she may speak.”
The statement by NWM suggests that a far-left feminist women can do no wrong under no circumstances. Every critic of Kandasamy has been branded a ‘troll’, legitimate criticism has been equated to harassment and allegations my her former husband has been transformed into ‘character assassination’ by people on social media.
It is bizarre and atrocious that Kandasamy’s rant against ‘Brahmin d*cks’ has been brushed under the carpet. But it also reveals that the coterie operates like a cabal and will always defend one of their own, no matter what.