DMK’s flagship women’s welfare scheme in danger after minister’s comment

An avoidable comment, where a senior minister called the government’s flagship scheme of free bus ride for women in town buses and other social welfare measures as “freebie”, has put the DMK dispensation in a tight spot.

Higher education minister K Ponmudy’s “colloquial speech” that women travel in “OC bus”, a slang used to refer to something that comes for free, due to the initiative by Chief Minister M K Stalin is still setting Tamil Twitter on fire.

Ponmudy’s comments come at a time when the DMK is opposing the usage of the term “freebie” by the Union government and the BJP. After an elderly woman in Coimbatore refused to travel in a “government bus for free” following Ponmudy’s comments, a section of the Tamil media reported that the state transport department asked its bus conductors to collect money if women were willing to pay for their ticket even in town buses.

Though transport minister S S Shivashankar termed the reports as “false”, the controversy raged on even as Stalin himself asked his cabinet and party colleagues—twice in a week’s time—to exercise caution while speaking in public.

Comments by Ponmudy, and that of former Union telecom minister A Raja on Manusmriti, have put the ruling DMK on the defensive. Though Stalin accused the opposition parties of trying to “edit the video clips” and “present them out of context”, Ponmudy’s speech created a stir among a section of the women beneficiaries, who took objection to his calling the scheme a “freebie.”

While the BJP took up the issue of Raja’s statements on Manusmriti in a big way, the AIADMK tried to take mileage out of the “OC bus” comment. Three AIADMK functionaries have been booked for “enacting a drama” with the elderly woman on a government bus.

Though DMK said the media and the opposition have created a “mountain out of a mole hill”, a senior party leader told DH that the minister’s remarks on the flagship scheme was an embarrassment for the party which is running its government on the planks of social welfare and social justice.

“Ponmudy is a very senior member of the cabinet, and he cannot try to escape by saying his speech made in a colloquial language was misinterpreted. When the CM himself doesn’t lose any opportunity to praise the scheme, the minister should have avoided making the statement which certainly hit a raw nerve,” the leader said.

A senior political commentator, who didn’t wish to be identified, said a minister of the Stalin cabinet trying to project a scheme touted as a welfare measure as a “freebie” could have been avoided. “Ponmudy’s tone, as if the government was doing a favour to women, was the problem and this is certainly an embarrassment to the government. Though Stalin attempted damage control immediately, he should instruct his colleagues not to belittle the welfare measures,” the commentator told DH.

The scheme that allows free travel for women in town buses across the state, including in Chennai, has increased the share of women passengers from 40 per cent to 61 per cent in just about a year after it was announced.

Finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, popularly known as PTR, said the scheme has had a “huge impact” on the socio-economic status of women. While Rs 1,200 crore was allotted for implementation of the scheme in 2021-2022 fiscal, the allotment for this financial year was increased to Rs 1,520 crore.

“As a result of the announcement by the Hon’ble Chief Minister to provide free bus service to women, the share of women passengers has increased from 40 per cent to 61 per cent,” PTR had said in his 2022-2023 budget speech.