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STATES:
TAMIL NADU
Mock
Fight
The ongoing
battle between the DMK and the AIADMK plumbs new depths as leaders of
both parties trade insults of the most colourful hues
By
Arun Ram
When
thousands of DMK activists danced to the tunes of a parody of the Rajnikant-starrer
Padayappa on the streets of Chennai last week, they were terribly out
of step. Intentionally so, for they were stamping on an invisible enemy.
As the "dancers" wound their way along Dr Radhakrishnan Salai,
the "enemy" sat just a stone's throw away in her posh Poes Garden
residence, probably fuming.
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"I'll
see to it that Karunanidhi gets life imprisonment. I wish him a
long life so that he can serve the entire term."
Jayalalitha
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The DMK rally
comprised floats, tableaux, skits and cartoons, with Jaya-bashing as the
core theme. There were eunuchs dressed up in the Jayalalitha-Sasikala
variety of gaudy attire, a "Jail-lalitha" skit, and a "funeral
procession" of the AIADMK general secretary. Even a replica of the
Jayalalitha wardrobe complete with hundreds of pairs of footwear and saris
was thoughtfully included.
The Padayappa
tune has struck a symbolic chord with DMK chief and Chief Minister M.
Karunanidhi supporters. The Rajnikant blockbuster, for the uninitiated,
is about the futile efforts of a woman scorned to take revenge. Revenge
was the theme of the AIADMK general secretary's address at her party's
council meeting recently. "I'll see to it that Karunanidhi gets life
imprisonment. I wish him a long life, so that he can serve the entire
sentence in jail," she thundered. Seated in the front row, Jayalalitha's
co-convict and confidante Sasikala joined the resounding applause.
Jayalalitha's
statements against Karunanidhi began to border on the absurd after she
was convicted by the Special Court on October 9. Flaying the state Government
for its failure in securing thespian Rajkumar's release from Veerappan's
clutches, she alleged that Karunanidhi had a secret pact with the forest
brigand, "who was contributing to the DMK election fund".
Karunanidhi
wasn't about to sit back and take all that. Recently, he sprang a surprise
by penning a poem in the DMK mouthpiece Murasoli ridiculing Jayalalitha.
Set in a conversation mode, the poet asks, "Amma, you have mansions,
farmhouses and wealth. What more do you want?" The reply: "Fort
St George (the seat of power in the state)".
War of
Words: Jayalalitha hit back with a poem in Namadhu MGR. The mode and
tone were the same as those authored by Karunanidhi; only the words were
harsher. Karunanidhi, she says, will conspire against her till his death,
and even when he is consigned to flames, his ashes will smell of conspiracy.
The DMK
asked its party units to organise street corner meetings to tell the people
of Jayalalitha's "tales of corruption." Karunanidhi looked serious
in his attempt when he deputed senior leaders and ministers K. Anbazhagan
and Arcot N. Veersamy to head the anti-Jayalalitha propaganda in the districts.
The November 3 rally in Chennai was the culmination of the first phase
of mutual mud-slinging.
The ugliness
of the exchanges has made even the allies of the two parties queasy. Says
TMC General Secretary Peter Alphonse: "My leader (G. K. Moopanar)
and my party are unhappy with the recent developments." Even the
communists, who stand solidly behind Jayalalitha, do not want to be drawn
into the fray. While CPI(M) state Secretariat member A.K. Padmanabhan
feels "the tussle is between two parties and the real issues of the
state lie elsewhere", CPI state Deputy Secretary S.S. Thiagarajan
says, "I am not supposed to comment on the issue." The BJP,
the DMK's most trusted ally, too, does not seem to approve of the tone
and tenor of the squabble. Says state General Secretary L. Ganesan: "Jayalalitha
is just getting paid back for her bad words. But my party will not involve
itself in such a scene and would continue to preserve decency in politics."
"What
decency," asks AIADMK spokesman Maithreyan, "can the DMK claim?
Karunanidhi had sown the seeds of indecency when he effected Jayalalitha's
arrest in 1996 and then went around talking of her saris."
The nauseating
tongue-lashing appears far from over. The tradition of political decorum
upheld by Periyar and Annadurai, who both warring parties swear by, is
being buried underneath the growing pile of abuse. The AIADMK starts its
next leg of the hate campaign with a week-long propaganda session from
November 11.
More dances.
More cacophony.
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