Jaya lashes out at ban on dhoti in clubs, threatens to cancel licenses

Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said she would enact a law to end a ban on dhotis in private clubs in Tamil Nadu.

“We won’t hesitate in cancelling the licenses of clubs who indulge in such acts, said Jayalalithaa, reacting to an incident where a dhoti-clad judge was refused entry into one of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Club.

Madras High Court Judge, Justice D Hariparanthaman had later termed the incident as “unfortunate.”

“It is unfortunate that such incidents happen 67 years after independence,” said Jayalalithaa.

Political parties, including the DMK, condemned the incident.

The issue had created a huge furore in the state assembly as DMK chief M Karunanidhi and TNCC president BS Gnanadesikan demanded that the government should step in to remove any kind of dress code in public functions.

Karunanidhi said ‘vaetti’ (dhoti) was a symbol of Tamil culture and it was ‘condemnable’ that one was barred entry at a public function for wearing the traditional attire. “To prevent recurrence of such incidents the government should suo motu advise (the concerned) on removing provisions on dress code for persons attending functions in public,” Karunanidhi said in a statement on Sunday.

Gnanadesikan said it was “regrettable” that a High Court Judge was denied entry for wearing dhoti. “It is not important who went there wearing dhoti, but a rule barring the entry into a club (for a dhoti-clad person) in Tamil Nadu is unacceptable,” he had said.

He said if at all there was a dress code for a club, it should not be binding on persons who were not its members and sought the removal of any such existing rules in clubs.

(With additional inputs from PTI)