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COVER STORY: ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2001
Tamil Nadu
The Last Rampage
To offset Jayalalitha's slight edge, a pugnacious
Karunanidhi gives it his all in his final campaign
By Arun Ram
Well, Muthuvel Karunanidhi
is the sitting chief minister. And he wants the massive crowd at Thoothukudi,
a south coastal town of Tamil Nadu, to sit: "Ukkarungo (Please sit
down)." It's his last public meeting of the day. For the next 25
minutes, Karunanidhi, a seasoned orator, goes on to explain why he should
continue to sit on the chief minister's chair.
On the eve of the big day, he doesn't seem to
be sitting pretty. But can 77-year-old Kalaignar afford to lose? Defying
his age and ageless speculation about his health, he is on a campaign
rampage across the state, and his legendary tongue is in great form. Take
this. One frail fan at Alamkulam rushes towards the dias to garland the
Thalaivar (leader), shouting "Vetri, vetri (victory, victory)."
The leader welcomes him with, "Vetri thevai; veri thevai illai (Victory
is needed, such euphoria is not)." If euphoria is a yardstick for
popularity, then AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalitha has already beaten
Karunanidhi. The DMK supremo's campaign is a mix of defence, offence and
confidence.
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| HARD BATTLE: Karunanidhi's
style is a mix of defence, offence and confidence |
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Jayalalitha is banking on a silent sympathy wave.
Karunanidhi thinks the best way to contain a wave is to stay cool. He
never goes beyond "why should there be a sympathy wave when the law
has only taken its course?" But Karunanidhi cannot ignore Jayalalitha's
charge that he has a hand in the returning officers rejecting her papers.
"The election officers have done their duty and I have no say in
those matters," he says. Then the punchline: "Who asked her
to buy the tansi land (which led to the case in which Jayalalitha was
convicted and sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment) when she
was in power? Had she consulted me, as a former chief minister I would
have advised her not to buy the government land. See, I am not a person
who will cheat even Jayalalitha." As Jayalalitha presents her case
in the "people's court", Karunanidhi places a fact-file of his
Government's achievements. The numerous welfare schemes are reeled out
with statistics to be compared with the previous Jayalalitha regime's
performance. "Should these welfare measures continue?" Karunanidhi
repeats amidst shouts of "yes".
The DMK is, nevertheless, worried about an equally,
if not more, vociferous "yes" to Jayalalitha's "shouldn't
this communal alliance be defeated?" The DMK's ties with the BJP
may have given Jayalalitha enough lines to call the alliance communal,
but Karunanidhi has Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's own lines to
counter that. In places where minority votes are considerable he quotes
Vajpayee extensively: "The prime minister has reiterated his respect
for all religions. As the NDA captain in the state, I assure you that
there will be no communal feelings when the DMK is at the helm."
The reception at Kayalpatnam, a Muslim-dominated
area in Tirunelveli district, vindicates his stand. As Karunanidhi's convoy
reaches the Al Jamiul Anzar Manzil, an enthusiastic welcome banner says,
"Kayalpatnam is Kalaignarpatnam". Hundreds of Muslim women wave
at the DMK leader who has "given three seats to his ally Muslim Lykkya
Jamaat, while Jayalalitha has given only one to her alliance partner IUML.
Karunanidhi's strategy is clear: To make himself
appear minority-friendly and drive home the point that while the AIADMK
alliance claims to be a secular front, DMK remains a secular party which
the minorities can rely on, despite its ties with the BJP. The sworn atheist's
habit of pooh-poohing Brahminical rituals comes in handy, what with his
swipes at Jayalalitha offering pujas at various temples.
That there is no overwhelming anti-incumbency
factor may be a relief for Karunanidhi, but he admits there is local-level
disaffection. Here, the DMK chief strikes the starkest contrast with Jayalalitha
by admitting the follies. He tells a gathering at Thoothukudi, "I
know you may have problems with your local representative. There are problems
with some sitting MLAs and I take the responsibility for that. If you
have any grouse against your representative who is a DMK man, vote for
him again. For, this time it is a vote for me. I promise that flaws will
be removed. If anyone can provide a better government than mine, it's
only me."
Karunanidhi has gone on record that this will
be his last election. There were obvious attempts to project his son M.K.
Stalin as the chief minister-in-waiting, and there was speculation that
the septuagenarian was planning to retire. But now, as the campaign turns
more scorching than the summer sun, Kalaignar has perhaps realised that
his last battle is going to be the hardest one.
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