With the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections in force, the Chennai Corporation has started a cleaning process to erase all political graffiti from the walls. At any given tine, the Chennai landscape is replete with larger than life posters of politicos particularly the DMK chief Karunanidhi, his son Stalin, Jayalalitha, Vijayakanth and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s Thol Tirumavalavan. Ever since hoardings were ordered to be brought down by the courts, the only recourse politicians had was to political graffiti. Political parties did not spare the walls, pipelines, medians and even subways.
According to Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni, letters have gone out to all political parties, asking them to remove paintings on public walls. "We have also requested other departments to clear all advertisements by political parties on their properties."
Incidentally, the cost incurred by the corporation to clean up a wall is in inverse proportion to the leverage that leaders get. "It costs us Rs.10 to whitewash a square metre and if we were to paint a kilometre-long crash barrier, it would cost us Rs.2 lakh," says a corporation official. Residents are looking forward to get their compound walls back at least briefly. Despite the noise made by bodies like the Civic Exnora and residents association, defaced compound walls are a reality and so are politicians and their clout. "This (pre-election) is the only time we can get away with calling the shots as far as politicians are concerned and I intend to enjoy this privilege," says Malathi Vaidyanathan ofAnnanagar.