Shutting down the haters who dared to compare her competence and stewardship to her husband and predecessor based on her dark complexion, Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan on Tuesday posted a bold statement against the colourist remarks on social media platform Facebook.
Muraleedharan's post is nothing but a much-needed reminder of how colourism still decides a person's credibility even in professional spaces at the highest government levels.
While describing her seven-month-long experience, Kerala라이브 바카라 highest-ranking civil servant elaborated how her journey so far has been riddled with unnecessary comparisons to her husband and former Chief Secretary V Venu. “It was about being labelled black (with that quiet subtext of being a woman), as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of,” she wrote.
In her post, she mentioned that she was reposting the same after deleting the initial post after some well-wishers urged her to speak out.
'Why Should Black Be Vilified?': Kerala Chief Secy
Muraleedharan's insightful post negating the established notions on complexion started with a slightly sarcastic tone. “Heard an interesting comment yesterday on my stewardship as Chief Secretary – that it is as black as my husband라이브 바카라 was white. Hmmm. I need to own my blackness”, it read.
Through her elaborate post, Muraleedharan articulated her bold take while dismantling the prejudiced connotations against dark skin.
“Black is as black does. Not just black the colour, but black the ne’er do well, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness. But why should black be vilified?”
She further explained how she spent over 50 years of her life buying into the ingrained narrative that only being fair-skinned defined beauty. Recalling her childhood, Muraleedharan said she had once asked her mother if she could be reborn fair-skinned, believing that only fair was beautiful, only fair was good enough.
“As a four-year-old, I apparently asked my mother whether she could put me back in her womb and bring me out again, all white and pretty. I have lived for over 50 years buried under that narrative of not being a colour that was good enough. And buying into that narrative. Of not seeing beauty or value in black. Of being fascinated by fair skin. And fair minds, and all that was fair and good and wholesome. And of feeling that I was a lesser person for not being that – which had to be compensated somehow”, she posted.
She further added that it was her children who 'gloried in their black heritage' and made her see the other side of the narrative, which says, “ That Black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness.”
The post, which many people found extremely relatable, garnered overwhelming support with many users telling her not to be bothered by petty minds.
Muraleedharan became the chief secretary in September 2024 following the retirement of her husband V Venu. This was the first time Kerala appointed an IAS couple in unbroken sequence as the chief secretaries. Venu and Sarada both belong to the 1990 batch of IAS.
