Veteran Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu recently, he has been awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award, considered India’s highest literary accolade. Several famous personalities congratulated the lyricist on the achievement. Among them were superstars Rajinikanth and actor-politician Kamal Haasan.However, the announcement of the award has also sparked controversy. Singer Chinmayi Sripada openly criticized the decision and questioned the praise from top industry officials.
Chinmayi Sripada strongly criticizes the award decision
Chinmayi Sripada, who accused Vairamuthu of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement in 2018, expressed her disappointment in a series of posts on X.The National Award-winning singer has criticized the decision to honor the lyricist.In her post, Chinmayi wrote, “In 2018, several women of different age groups named a Poet – Lyricist as their molester. Today Gnanpith is given to the man, after someone like Sri Jayakantan, whose daughter called him Vairamuthu for submitting a fake letter of ‘Praise’ to Sri Jayakanthan.”
Singer remembers the impact of the allegations
In another post, Chinmayi spoke about the consequences she faced after speaking out publicly during the #MeToo movement.She noted that several women had raised their voices earlier: “The collective voices of the women who named her were silenced. I paid a very high price; other women who left their dreams behind weren’t half as lucky as I was.”The singer also wrote: “For God’s sake… PS: In the transition to politics, men with such power in cinema need to remind voting women that they turn a deaf ear to the women who come on the register to say that they molested “her uncle guardians” – that men will never be on our side. The strangest thing – one of the women in her party publicly named Poeta.”
Chinmayi reacts to Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth’s posts
Chinmayi also directly reacted to the congratulatory messages sent by Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan for winning the award for Vairamuthu.Responding to Kamal Haasan’s tweet, she wrote: “At the end of the day, men will stand by their brothers, uncles, fathers, friends, mentors. Who cares about multiple women being traumatized?”She later reacted to Rajinikanth’s congratulatory message with a short but pointed note: “Ayyyyyyoooo!!! Puriyave puriyaadha??! (You don’t understand do you?)”Meanwhile, Vairamuthu has become the third writer in the history of Tail literature to receive the famous literary honor and the previous ones were the famous writer – journalist Jayakanthan in 2002 and writer Akilan in 1975.DISCLAIMER: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, assault or abuse, seek immediate help. Contact a mental health specialist, NGO or someone you trust. Several helplines are available to provide assistance.
