'I Own My Blackness': Kerala Chief Secretary On Her Struggle With Colourism

Kerala's Chief Secretary, Sarada Muraleedharan, shared a candid social media post, calling out people ridiculing her dark complexion and comparing her work with that of her husband, former Kerala Chief Secretary V Venu. She pointed out social media users claiming her performance as Chief Secretary "it is as black as my husband's was white." In a beautifully worded Facebook post, she wrote about being "labelled black (with that quiet subtext of being woman) as if that were something to be desperately ashamed of." 

Muraleedharan shared, "Black is as black does. Not just black the colour, but black the ne'er do good, black the malaise, the cold despotism, the heart of darkness. 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."

"I need to own my blackness," Muraleedharan wrote

Muraleedharan opened up about her struggle with colourism and bias since childhood. "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."

The bureaucrat wrote about how "not seeing value in black" and being fascinated by fair skin affected her confidence. She also said she was made to feel "a lesser person" for not being fair and had to "compensate" somehow. She further said that she broke out of this narrative later in life, finding beauty in being dark-skinned.

"Till my children. Who gloried in their black heritage. Who kept finding beauty where I noticed none. Who thought that black was awesome. Who helped me see. That black is beautiful. That black is gorgeousness. That I dig black," Muraleedharan wrote.

Following the post, Muraleedharan spoke to Asian News International about colourism. She said, "There is an entire value connotation and that value connotation is that the kind of administration that I do is black and the connotation is that because it is black, it is not good, and there was something wrong with it."

#WATCH | Thiruvananthapuram: On a comment about her skin complexion, Sarada Muraleedharan, Kerala Chief Secretary, says "...It was a comment that was made perhaps from a sense of humour. But the thing is, behind the humour, there is an entire value connotation and that value… pic.twitter.com/LkL67fr6m0

— ANI (@ANI) March 26, 2025

"What is wrong about black? Isn't it more a perception than a reality? It is important to claim blackness as something worthwhile and beautiful... I think it's high time for me not to feel defensive about either the fact that I am a woman or that I am dark. It's time that I own both of these and that I come out strongly," she shared.

Muraleedharan said that she hopes her candid post can reach more people who have faced similar struggles. "By my coming out strongly, maybe it will help those people who are going through similar feelings of insecurity and inadequacy to feel that we are worth it and we don't need external validation," she said.