The Kerala police have registered a case against senior Congress leader and Vadakara Parliament member K Muraleedharan over a misogynistic remark directed at Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran. "She is beautiful to look at, but what comes from her mouth is scarier than the 'Kodungalloor Bharani paatu',” K Muraleedharan said during a speech, using beauty standards to absurdly describe someone’s capacity to head the local government. Bharani paatu is a song of curse words used in a temple at Kodungalloor Devi Temple and used to refer to speeches containing profanities. Twenty two year old Arya is one of the youngest leaders in Kerala to hold the Mayor position.
On Tuesday, October 26, Mayor Arya filed a complaint with the Museum police station against the MP. Police charged the Congress leader after seeking a legal opinion on the matter. Muraleedharan has apologised for his words, but said that he is firm on his stand that the mayor is immature. "I apologise for the mental discomfort caused to her due to my statements. But I am firm on the statement that she is not mature," he said.
Muraleedharan made the statement while speaking at a protest of Congress workers against the alleged misappropriation of revenue collection funds by staff at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. Referring to a speech made by Mayor Arya Rajendran that aired on television, Muraleedharan, who claims he wasn’t bothered by it, said, "It is not that we don’t know how to throw away the television and break it. But since this is a protest against corruption and this television has been bought using the tax paid by people, we are not doing it."
"To look at, she is beautiful but what comes from her mouth are words that are scarier than what is said in Kodungallur ‘Barani paattu’,” he said, referring to songs of the famous festival at the Kodungalloor temple.
In reference to Mayor Arya, he said that some like her spout up after one rain. “When the rain is over, it will go away. This Corporation has seen many like this," Muraleedharan said.
He went on to say, "If she continues like this, we will make women pull her out. Because, if men try to pull her out, the police here will register cases of sexual harassment. So we will make the women do this."
Watch: MP K Muraleedharan speak against Mayor Arya
For several weeks, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, ruled by CPI(M), has been witnessing protests by Opposition BJP and Congress members, against the alleged misappropriation of revenue funds. It was found that lakhs were taken allegedly by staff in various zonal offices of the Corporation. Soon after the incidents were discovered, the mayor had reportedly taken action against the culprits by suspending them. A police probe is also ongoing.
Incidentally, this is not the first time that the Mayor was meted out such treatment from senior politicians. In June this year, Arya was mocked by a BJP councillor, who called her an "LKG student." However, the 22-year-old hit back at the leader at a council meeting, which had gone viral.