The first woman dafadar of the Greater Chennai Corporation has raised allegations that she has been removed from the post and transferred as officials were unhappy with her for wearing lipstick. SB Madhavi, 50, ceremonially accompanies Chennai mayor R Priya has been transferred to a civic role in Chennai’s Manali zone .
“A week before they transferred me, the mayor’s office told me to wear at least a different and a lighter colour lipstick,” Madhavi said. “But I like applying lipstick. It’s my personal freedom. If I’m not working properly, they can find fault with it,” she added.
She also told the vernacular media that the Mayor’s office did not want her to wear the same shape of lipstick as the Mayor herself used.
She received a memo from the Mayor, dated August 6, however, the issue came to light a month later and turned into a controversy in the city on Wednesday.
“They cited six reasons to transfer me and I responded on the same day,” Madhavi said.
HT has seen a copy of the order in which the reasons include reporting to work late and ignoring orders of superiors. To the last reason “violation of office procedures”, Madhavi responded, “You told me not to wear lipstick and I defied you. If it’s wrong to wear lipstick, please show me a government order which prohibits wearing lipstick.”
BJP councillor Uma Ananthan defended the dafadar. “She can wear whatever lipstick shade she wants. This is again women’s rights, said Anandan. The BJP councillor highlighted the issues of ageism and sexism saying that though chief minister MK Stalin is two years older to her, she’s addressed as “paati” meaning grandmother in Tamil. “She (Madhavi) is 50 years old. Maybe they didn’t want her to wear lipstick at that age. DMK has to respond to her. Though I don’t wear lipstick, in the next corporation council, I’ll wear lipstick to express my support to her.”
{{/usCountry}}BJP councillor Uma Ananthan defended the dafadar. “She can wear whatever lipstick shade she wants. This is again women’s rights, said Anandan. The BJP councillor highlighted the issues of ageism and sexism saying that though chief minister MK Stalin is two years older to her, she’s addressed as “paati” meaning grandmother in Tamil. “She (Madhavi) is 50 years old. Maybe they didn’t want her to wear lipstick at that age. DMK has to respond to her. Though I don’t wear lipstick, in the next corporation council, I’ll wear lipstick to express my support to her.”
{{/usCountry}}HT reached out to DMK but did not get a response to request for comment.
The Greater Chennai Corporation on Wednesday evening released a statement denying the allegations.
“An explanation was sought through a memorandum last month as per the office procedures, due to Madhavi’s continuous violation of office procedures, coming late without properly reporting to the office, and not carrying out work in the office,” the statement said.
“Apart from this, no explanation was asked about her personal make-up. No questioning was conducted. However, there have been reports in some media that she has been transferred for personal cosmetic choices. This is completely wrong,” it added.