Reports state that Tamil poet, novelist and lyricist Vairamuthu is to be conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature at the SRM Institute of Science and Management, this Saturday on December 28. Minister of Defence of India Rajnath Singh will be the Chief Guest for the event, and Dr T R Paarivendhar, the Founder-Chancellor of SRM Institute and Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, is the other personality presiding over the event. Although after receiving much backlash for honouring the MeToo accused lyricist, we hear the Defence Minister has now cancelled his visit to confer Doctorate to the poet. #MeToo Accused Lyricist Vairamuthu Out Of Mani Ratnam's Ponniyin Selvan After Makers Face Backlash?

Earlier, BJP Karnataka's Youth wing leader SG Suryah had taken to Twitter to request the Defense Minister to reconsider conferring Doctorate to #Vairamuthu due to his comments on Goddess Andal and also the MeToo accusations against him. The BJP leader later took to Twitter to state that the Defence Minister has cancelled his visit and thanked him for considering the concerns surrounding Vairamuthu's doctorate ceremony.

Check Out BJP Karnatak Youth Wing Leader's Tweets Here:

Here's the Second Tweet:

After the news of Vairamuthu being honoured broke, famed singer Chinmayi Sripada also took to Twitter to express her disappointment over the same. Sripada along with eight other women came forward against the lyricist. Sripada took to Twitter and said, "The Defence Minister of India is conferring an honorary degree to Kavignar Vairamuthy named by 9 women so far for having molested them. Just reiterating - outing KNOWN molesters does NO damage to them. Instead I got banned from working."

Check Out Chinmayi Sripada's Tweet Here:

While there hasn't been an official confirmation on the cancellation of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's visit, going by SG Suryah's tweet it looks like the strong backlash received attention and that Vairamuthu may not be honoured with the doctorate at the upcoming event.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2019 11:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).