Ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, which are expected to begin in April, The Quint travelled with Kanimozhi on her Tiruppur tour to understand DMK’s promises to its voters, the party’s assessment of the ruling governments – All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre – and political controversies surrounding Kalaignar’s family.
“The DMK has always reached out (to people) this way, but maybe not during a campaign. However, when you talk about the differently-abled and the transgender persons, we’ve always worked with them. It was under DMK Karunanidhi’s government that in Tamil Nadu an order was passed for the first time to recognise the transgender community, giving them the respectful name ‘Thirunangai’. We even had a separate department for the differently-abled, which was headed by the chief minister,”…