A public interest litigation petition seeking initiation of disqualification proceedings against Chidambaram Member of Parliament Thol Thirumavalavan, for his speech on ancient scripture Manusmriti, has been listed for hearing before the Madras High Court on Monday.
The case has been listed for admission before a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha. S. Kasiramalingam, a 69-year-old advocate from Saligramam here, had filed the PIL petition through his counsel R.C. Paul Kanagaraj.
According to the petitioner, the MP had addressed a webinar on Periyar and Indian politics in September this year. The webinar was organised by the European Union Periyar Ambedkar Comrades Federation. It was aimed at worldwide audience and the excerpts were also shared on social media.
Wrong interpretation
In his address, the MP had “misinterpreted" the ancient Hindu scripture Manusmriti and claimed that it objectifies all women as objects of sex and that their status was less than that of a man. Stating that the MP was not a scholar in Sanskrit, the petitioner said he ought not to have made such an interpretation.
The litigant claimed that the MP’s speech had created unrest and led to “disgust and provocation among various sections of people”. He said the MP did not stop with making the speech but also went on to hold State-wide protests demanding a ban on Manusmriti which was penned over 2,200 years ago.
The litigant also accused the MP of having done so with the intention of defaming Hindus, creating social unrest and destabilising the integrity of the nation for his own political gains.
