High-profile person made insulting remarks on skin colour, but won't name individual: Kerala CS

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's outgoing Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan on Tuesday said it was a high-profile person who had made insulting remarks against her skin colour recently, but she didn't want to name the individual.

Muraleedharan, who is retiring from her decades-long bureaucratic service on April 30, added that the person had neither apologised nor expressed regret for the comments.

The woman bureaucrat was in the news last month over a Facebook post in which she had spoken out about the colour and gender bias she has faced and its continued presence in society, sparking a debate on social media with many people extending their support.

What prompted the Chief Secretary to ignite the social debate was a comment made by a person comparing her work with that of her husband and predecessor, V Venu, by saying, "it is as black as my husband's was white." While talking to a TV channel ahead of her retirement, Muraleedharan said she had put up the FB post to call out the discrimination and bias being kept up by people in their minds over skin colour.

It is an issue of attitude towards the black colour, she told the channel in an interview.

When she was asked whether it was a high-profile person who made such a remark, she admitted it, but was reluctant to reveal whether the particular individual was a politician or a top-ranking official.

Muraleedharan also said the "high-profile" person had not contacted her or expressed any regret over his remarks so far.

"Both of us interacted in a very friendly manner even after that (controversy), but the person has not talked about the issue," she added.

The Chief Secretary also said several persons from various walks of life called her and expressed their solidarity with her when she spoke about the discrimination over skin colour and informed her that they also suffered the same insult in their lives.

A Jayathilak would be the new Chief Secretary of Kerala as Muraleedharan retires on April 30.