Speaking on on Sunday at DMK's event ahead of Women's Day, Kanimozhi took jibes at Prime Minister Modi who was recently in news for mocking Rajya Sabha MP Renuka Chowdhury’s laughter. Fellow Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi had invited Renuka Chowdhury for the event.
Modi had mocked Chowdhury in Rajya Sabha and said to Vice President Venkaiah Naidu who was presiding over the session, “I request you to not say anything to Renuka ji. After the TV serial Ramayana, this is the first time that we have the privilege of hearing such kind of laughter again.” Modi was slammed for this apparent reference to Surpanaka, Ravan’s sister from the epic Ramayana.
Explaining how the event date was changed so Renuka Chowdhury could attend, Kanimozhi said, "She (Renuka) asked me why are you so insistent that I should come? I told her, we love Ravana and we love Surpanaka in Tamil Nadu."
Slamming those who take issue with women laughing, Kanimozhi said, “When the Prime Minister spoke, she could not accept certain things which were far from the truth and she had to laugh. But generally for men, especially few of those who are in power, if a woman laughs, they get scared. Is it true or not? We have seen it written on many autos that all is lost if a woman laughs, all is lost if tobacco leaves are opened. I don't know how women are related to tobacco leaves. But usually they keep writing it. Why is Duryodhan angry with Paanjali (Draupadi) in the Mahabharata? He falls down. Paanjali laughs. Because that angered him, he humiliates her in his court.”
Referring to the incident where Modi had mocked her colleague, she said, “Even in Ramayana, all Surpanaka does is express her desire and laughs at Lakshmana. His brother gets angry and cuts off her nose. Like this, many are scared of women's laughter. But we are proud. If one woman's laughter can make all the men sitting there tremble- right from the Vice President- then imagine the kind of change the voices of all the women here can bring about.”
Extolling DMK’s women cadre to never back down, she also said, “In all political parties, there are those who think that only a woman who listens patiently and stands in a corner is fit for public life. If that attitude has to change, women like Renuka Chowdhury must come to politics. That mentality has to come. Whoever it may be, we should have the courage to question them.”
Kanimozhi also slammed the recent spate of violence against women in crimes committed at the workplace and by stalkers and said that neither the government in the state nor at the centre have done enough for women’s safety.