DMK leader: ‘Milk from foreign cows making women fat like a barrel’

DMK leader Dindigul I Leoni has come under fire after making a sexist remark at an election campaign rally in Coimbatore.

In a video clip of the speech doing the rounds on social media, Leoni can be heard saying women “have lost their figures, putting on weight after consuming the milk of foreign cows”. People present at the event can be seen clapping and laughing.

The incident took place when Leoni, TV talk show judge and DMK’s propaganda secretary, was campaigning for the party’s Thondamuthur candidate, Karthikeya Sivasenapathy. Sivasenapathy is the managing trustee of Senaapathy Kangayam Cattle Research Foundation (SKCRF), an NGO working for the welfare of native cattle breeds.

@KanimozhiDMK kindly restrain speakers like Dindigul Leoni from speaking in the manner they are. His comments about the hips of women and how they have ballooned are degrading. You must have seen the video.#TNElection2021

— Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) March 24, 2021

“You know, there are many types of cows. In farms, you would have seen foreign cows. People use a milking machine for foreign cows. A person will switch on the machine and 40 litres of milk will come out in an hour. By drinking that milk, all our women have become fat like a balloon. Earlier, a woman’s figure looked like the number 8. They could carry children on their hips. But now, if they hold a child, it slips away because they have become like a barrel. All our children have also become fat,” Leoni said.

What a shame.. what milk does he drink? Does he know what happens to women’s body post pregnancy or during hormonal changes? @KanimozhiDMK what do you like to say to this kind of male chauvinist? Is this the respect your party people have on women. https://t.co/7yMf5esqX0

— Gayathri Raguramm (@BJP_Gayathri_R) March 24, 2021

The comments from Leoni came despite one party worker trying to distract him, by handing him a small quantity of rice provided as government ration and asking him to speak about its poor quality. While Leoni did speak on the rice for a minute, he came back to comments on women.

Netizens on social media have slammed Leoni, and asked the party’s women’s wing leader and MP Kanimozhi to act against him.