A Standup Comic Is Silenced In Tamil Nadu, But Woke Liberals Choose To Look Elsewhere

A standup comic in Tamil Nadu has been forced to delete his fun clip that facetiously broached the subject of E V Ramasamy's (EVR) contentious marriage to Maniammai in July 1949.

At the time of marriage, EVR was reportedly 72 and she 26. (The age keeps changing depending on whom you read. But we are going by what was reported in the newspapers in the week of marriage.)

The Tamil standup comic in question, Faiyaaz Hussain, has not only been compelled to remove the video, but also has been forced to put out an apology.

If this happened anywhere else, it would have been non-stop flash news and a bold-typeface headline item. It would have been a sensational issue of freedom of expression being curtailed. But the whole thing has gone unreported, leave alone getting frenzied coverage.

Since it is the Dravidian folks who are the ones forcing the matter here, the liberal gang are going about their act as if nothing has happened.

Hussain is one of those typical young Tamil standup comics whose understanding of the state's politics leaves a bit to be desired. His comic acts are, at best, surface level.

In this particular clip, he buttonholes a member of the audience on his marriage and matrimony to harvest some laughs. You know how these things work; the standup comic will make jokes at the expense of one of the paying public and somehow think it to be funny.

Anyway, here in the video he asks an unseen male where he met his wife, to which the guy seems to answer: 'shaadi.com'.

But Hussain asks, for whatever reasons, if it was like 'Nadar Matrimony or some such?'

And the guy replies that he tried searching for 'Periyarist Matrimony', to which the comic pauses for a second and deadpans, 'Enna, sir! Sondha pillaiyava kalynama pannikka mudiyum (What, sir! Can one marry one's own daughter?)'

It seemed a spontaneous line, but Hussain also seemed to realise quickly that it might have been a faux pas. He defensively said it was all said as a joke and he may not release the video. But the clip not only made it to the social media platforms; it also put him under enormous pressure.

EVR's marriage is a touchy topic for 'Dravidalogues'.

A Marriage That Caused Havoc In Tamil Nadu Politics

Marriage is a personal matter, but EVR's second marriage to a woman 46 years younger than him in the latter part of his life brought about a major churn in Tamil Nadu politics.

It was instrumental in the creation of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as a breakaway party from the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).

The marriage to Maniammai, who had been taking care of EVR as a kind of nurse, made leaders like C N Annadurai seethe and walk out on him.

Even if, by the looks of it, the marriage was consensual, considering the power equation between the two, it was indeed questionable.

Modern-day feminists would never accept such an unequal marriage between a nurse and the person she was taking care of. But it is a tragic irony that someone like EVR, with such an ambiguous track record, is held up as a paragon of women empowerment.

But in the immediate aftermath of the marriage, there was no such effort to whitewash a dubitable act. Writing in a no-holds manner in his publication Dravida Nadu (dated 3 July 1949), Annadurai poignantly said EVR was marrying someone who was like his adopted daughter.

"Is it right? Is it proper? The world is asking," wrote Annadurai.

Much later, it was weakly claimed that EVR married Maniammai to safeguard the DK's wealth.

Again, feminists should take umbrage at this line of reasoning. How can a woman be used as a chip in an old man's quest to retain his political party's properties? But alas, such questioning is reserved only for others, not for the Dravidian ideologues. Huh!

Anyway, Anna and EVR patched up when the former became chief minister of Madras State in 1967. But the contentious marriage issue never really vanished from the equation, and the two leaders' relationship remained, at best, functional.

No Squeak From The Wokes

Getting back to Hussain, no sooner did his clip start doing its rounds on social media platforms, the Dravidian sections went hammer and tongs against him.

He was labelled 'paccha Sanghi' (green Sanghi), and the reference is not hard to guess.

The insidiousness of the Dravidian sections is that they trap all the voices uncomfortable to them in the framework of 'Sanghi'. It is a duplicitous and diabolical approach. It is targeted vilification.

Dalits who are now up in arms against the Dravidians are called blue Sanghi. The bogey of Brahminism (using the disparaging term 'paarpaneeyam') is also quickly whipped up. 

In Hussain’s case, Brahminism was mercifully left out for obvious reasons. But his religion was also brought into the scheme of things. A comic from a minority community has been targeted and told to remove his content, which, in any case, is part of Tamil Nadu politics. But there is nary a voice of protest. No Google search result will even mention this story.

It is all a joke. And it is on the two-tongued woke types.