Women in India face discrimination with religion involved: Veeramani

Sanatana Dharma and Manu Dharma are the reasons behind women’s dehumanisation, said Dravidar Kazhagam president, K. Veeramani, on Monday, January 8, 2024.

Sanatana Dharma and Manu Dharma are the reasons behind women’s dehumanisation, said Dravidar Kazhagam president, K. Veeramani, on Monday, January 8, 2024.

Speaking at the Prof. A. Karunanandan’s Periyariyal Lecture held in Chennai, Mr. Veeramani said that women all over the globe face discrimination, but in India it is a different kind of discrimination, as religion is also involved. “Pet animals enjoy more rights than women [in India],” he charged.

“Today there might be some form of freedom for women, but tomorrow what will happen because of Sanatana Dharma? There are still people calling for the Constitution of India to be replaced by Manu Dharma,” he said.

Stating that Periyar was an original thinker, he said that first, equality has to be achieved and after that, equality should be empowered. Equality is only the stepping stone, as empowerment is required. “As education was denied to women, they were not even owners of their bodies and minds,” Mr. Veeramani said.

The endowment lecture was organised by the department of history, University of Madras to discuss ‘Why Were Women Enslaved?: Periyar as an early feminist thinker in India’ on the campus premises. Anirudh Deshpande, department of history, Delhi University delivered the endowment lecture in the presence of the University of Madras’ faculty.