A senior leader of Kerala’s ruling CPI(M) triggered widespread outrage on Sunday night after making misogynistic remarks at a public event in Malappuram district, held to celebrate his narrow victory in last week’s municipal elections.
Sayed Ali Majeed, a CPI(M) member, was addressing a gathering of several hundred Left workers, including women, after winning his ward by just 47 votes. During his speech, he launched a crude attack on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) for fielding women candidates in the local body polls.
Accusing the party of exploiting women for electoral gains, Majeed said, “They displayed women to win votes,” a remark that drew cheers from sections of the audience.
He went on to make disparaging comments not only about women candidates of the Muslim League but also about women within his own party. “We also have married women at home,” he said, before adding, “but not to show them off to win votes. Let them sit at home… marry women to sleep with and make kids.”
Continuing in the same vein, he sought to justify his remarks by invoking social customs. “That is why families traditionally verify lineage and background while arranging marriages,” he said.
The controversial remarks came at a politically sensitive moment for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), which suffered significant setbacks in the municipal elections ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) emerged as the biggest gainer, winning four of the state’s six municipal corporations. The UDF retained control of Kannur and wrested Kochi and Kollam from the LDF.
Compounding the Left’s troubles, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has historically struggled to gain a foothold in Kerala, secured control of the Thiruvananthapuram municipal corporation. The state capital is represented in Parliament by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and had long been considered a Left stronghold. In the latest polls, in which the council strength has increased to 101, the NDA won 50 seats, while the LDF was reduced to 29 and the UDF to 19. The remaining two seats were won by Independents.
