Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President EVKS Elangovan is in the news once again for allegedly name-calling a woman on Saturday, this time in a dispute with his BJP counterpart Tamilisai Soundararajan.
The incident is reported to have occurred at a protest meeting on the National Herald case in Madurai, where Elangovan allegedly called Tamilisai a ‘Karakattakkaari’ (a woman who performs ‘Karagattam’, a folk dance), and said "We need not reply to the remarks made by ‘Karakattakkaari’ or ‘Poikaal kuthirai aattakkaari’ (a woman who performs folk dance with a dummy horse tied around her waist)," according to The New Indian Express.
Speaking to The News Minute, Tamilisai Soundararajan said, "I have told my party workers not to make a big deal out of this. We are involved in relief and rescue works after the Tamil Nadu floods, and this is not the right time. EVKS Elangovan is only lowering himself by making such statements. He has made such statements in the past against his own party workers. I want to know if he is insulting folk artists as well."
Tamilisai was referring to an incident when the Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress witnessed chaos last month after Mahila Congress leader and MLA S Vijayadharani accused Elangovan of using abusive language. Elongovan was also booked under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST Act, after it was alleged that he insulted the MLA over her caste.
Reacting to the present allegation, EVKS Elangovan told TNM, "some media reports about me are wrong. I only said that the way the folk artists tell the same jokes and dance and laugh on stage, the BJP is making the same allegation over and over again about the Congress and these allegations are wrong. That was what I meant by that. My intention was not to hurt anybody."