TN: Dayanidhi Maran Uses Casteist 'Mami' Jibe While Referring To Nirmala Sitharaman During DMK Hunger Strike Against NEET

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Dayanidhi Maran is facing flak for his recent remarks during the party's hunger strike against NEET, in which he had referred to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as 'Nirmala Mami'.

The word 'Mami' is often used by Dravidian politicians to refer to Tamil Brahmin women in a derogatory manner.

Maran said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had sent 'Nirmala Mami' to Tamil Nadu to come to power in the state with the help of "slaves" (a reference to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), after the death of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa.

However, after saying 'Nirmala Mami', he said 'Ok Nirmala Sitharaman' and when someone said the reason why he had said 'Mami', Maran said that he had mentioned it unintentionally.

He then tried to portray her as an outsider saying that she was not even a Rajya Sabha member from the state and had no work in Tamil Nadu. Further, he said that while she claimed to have been born in the state and probably had her roots here, she doesn't care for the state.

Critics have pointed out that both Dayanidhi Maran and his father Murasoli Maran were married to Tamil Brahmin women.

While Dayanidhi Maran is married to Priya, the daughter of Ramesh Rangarajan of The Hindu group, his father Murasoli Maran was married to a Brahmin woman named Mallika. Murasoli Maran was the nephew of former chief minister M Karunanidhi.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) members are also known to use other derogatory words like 'Noolibaan' (in reference to the sacred thread) while referring to Tamil Brahmins.

A DMK IT wing member named "Surya Born To Win" had recently used this word to criticise a tweet by journalist Akshita Nandagopal regarding Senthil Balaji's chest pain.

Before that in another reference to the sacred thread, former state finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), had referred to journalist Chandra R Srikanth as being part of an 'ilk'. Before the word 'ilk' he had used an emoji denoting 'thread.'