Top bureaucrat sparks debate on discrimination and societal beauty standards in viral social media post.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan’s social media post on the discrimination she faced while heading the state’s bureaucracy has triggered a significant debate regarding the biases associated with dark complexion.
In her Facebook post on March 25, Muraleedharan recalled a remark that compared her tenure as the Chief Secretary to that of her predecessor and husband, V. Venu. “I heard an interesting remark yesterday on my stewardship as Chief Secretary - that it is as black as my husband’s was white”.
The Chief Secretary said she decided to call out the comment as it highlighted the underlying prejudice, “it was about being labelled black (with that quiet subtext of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of”.
Through her social media post, Muraleedharan who took over as the Chief Secretary of the state on August 31, 2024, mentioned the strong bias against darker skin tones and even shared an anecdote - how, as a four-year-old, she once asked her mother to give birth to her again so she could be fair skinned.
The Chief Secretary admitted to having internalised society’s preference for fairness, feeling inadequate because of it. However, she credited her children for helping her unlearn those biases, as they took pride in their skin tone and saw beauty where she once saw none.
Calling out the criticism, Muraleedharan said, “But why should black be vilified? Black is the all-pervasive truth of the universe. Black is that which can absorb anything, the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind. It is the colour that works on everyone, the dress code for the office, the lustre of evening wear, the essence of kajol, the promise of rain”.
