Stalin's Jail Journey
In between presiding over seat sharing talks -- signalling that finally the DMK patriarch was passing the torch to him-- M K Stalin found time this week to ferry his entire family including his wife Durga, son and daughter and their respective spouses and children and Dayannidhi Maran and his son to the Central Prison for a trip down nostalgia lane. The Central Prison built in 1837, is now on the chopper’s block, and Stalin decided to have one lastdekko at what used to be his home during the emergency when as a youth just out of college, he was jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act(MISA).
Clearly the photo-op -- they say a picture is worth a thousand words -- was too much to resist at election time,but Stalin gave the spin that his family had been compelling him to take them on the tour since 2006 when the Central Prison was moved to Puzhal but that he just found the time for it! His family wanted to see the ninth block where he was beaten badly and was saved by Chitti Babu who gave up his life to protect Stalin.
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Stalin also showed his family the block in which Karunanidhi was incarcerated after his infamous midnight arrest in 2001 and other units where Kalaignar spent time after being arrested for various protests during the MGR regime.
Interestingly, it was in the Central prison that one could say Stalin's political life took off. His father and DMK leader M Karunanidhi often says Stalin would never have joined politics but for his prison experience. He was virtually dragged into politics because of his ill-treatment in prison at a time when he was just out of college. That’s something for a man on the verge of taking over from his father, who just spent 40 days in hospital for a bad back.
Where’s Azhagiri?
Strangely, while Stalin is in the news all the time, Azhagiri is not. Although two applications have been forwarded to the party for a ticket for Azhagiri by sycophants, there’s no word from this Madurai-based son of Karunanidhi who recently pulled off a resounding victory from Tirumangalamassembly constituency during its bypoll. Is he sulking because Big Brother is in the limelight as the "thalapathi" (commander) of theDMK? Even more interesting, if local reports are to be believed, is that Stalin’s son Udayanidhi is a ticket aspirant for Chennai South. Other aspirants for this ticket are actor Napolean and DMK spokesperson TKSElangovan.
And for Dayanidhi Maran, all is well that ends well. Apart from becoming Karunanidhi’s shadow post-reunion, he’s all set to contest from Central Chennai. To think that last year this time, it seemed he was going to sit this election out!
To Commit Or Not To Commit
PMK founder S Ramadoss reminds me of what my father is fond of saying in Kannada:"Akki mel aase, nentere mel preethi (you love the rice but you love your guest too"-- meaning, you are tempted by both and are in a dilemma). Ramadoss is being wooed assiduously by both the DMK and AIADMK, which is actually a wonderful position to be in. But his anxiety comes from the fact that past history tells him that the DMK cannot sweep the Lok Sabha polls like last time despite all the freebies that the ruling party has spread around. But the DMK is offering 7 Lok Sabha+1 Rajya Sabha seat,which means that his son, Union Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss’ future is secure. The AIADMK is offering the same, but his worry is that AIADMK’s chief Jayalalitha is mercurial and with his matching temperament, there will be fireworks before the last vote is counted. But like all politicians, he is opportunistic and wants to be in the winning camp. And the jury is out on which one that is.
Besides Ramadoss also is apparently waiting to see what DMDK’s Vijayakanth will do. One political observer has told me to keep Vijayhakanth’s political obituary ready! So his 8.33 per cent votes during the 2006 assembly elections was a fluke? Let’s not forget that his party’s candidate lost his deposit during the Tirumangalam byelections. There is speculation that while Karunanidhi is wooing him, the Congress is pushing for him to go alone because it figures that he will divide AIADMK’s votes-- and no prizes for guessing who gains as a result.
Writing On The Wall
But there is no dearth of posters, hoardings and poll graffiti as all politicians try to grab the eyeballs of the voter. Many posters show Stalin’s stature has grown although he has not quite yet dwarfed his father. But if you read the writing on the wall, it is clear that the succession process has begun in the DMK. Then there is a poster that shows Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s Thol Thirumavalavan holding a pistol-- that should clear the doubts of anyone who wondered whether he would project a militant image. In fact, his anti-Congress stand that included burning the effigies of both Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made the grand old party express reservations about his party being in the alliance with the DMK. But Karunanidhi has already committed himself and Thirumavalavan said thank-you with flowers. The Congress can only gnash its teeth after Karunanidhi's statement that his party and the VCK have the same vision.
MGR might be dead for 22 years but put up a poster of him and you can be certain the votes will come in. "I can never forget that he did a lot for the poor," says Valli, a house maid who continues to vote for him. So much for the DMK’s free colour TV, gas cylinder and rice at Re 1 per kg. There are posters of MGR all over including one of him looking like a lion tamer while several lions walk towards him. Jayalalitha too looks down benignly from the poster. This is just one of the metaphors on display when one looks around the city where supposedly there is a ban on defacing walls.
But no matter how many posters the parties put up, the Corporation’s job is to prevent defacing of public and private walls. It has now set up 155 teams-- one for each of the wards in Chennai -- to oversee the removal of poll graffiti. "Three hundred digital banners were removed since the date of the Lok Sabha polls was announced," says Corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni. Many more will be put up-- after all the election here is almost two months away on May 13 -- and as many will come down because as Lakhoni pointed out the Election Commission had directed that the rules of the Tamil Nadu Open Places (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act, 1959, which prevented disfigurement of places open to public view by objectionable or unauthorised advertisement and pasting of posters in such places, must be strictly adhered to. Andadvertisements include any bill, notice, document, paper or any substance containing words, signs or visible representation.Basically, whatever! But then, who's listening? All are all busy with the dance of democracy.
