Your Friendly Philosopher & Guide

Things were basically alright after independence when there were not many political parties in India. Congress had a strong hold across the country, and people in fact attributed freedom of India to the Congress party. Things got worse, when many parties came into existence, and all of them had their own agendas and principles.

Let us take Tamil Nadu for instance. Kamaraj, a Congress leader, completed his tenure as a Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu without much hassles, and was able to make a mark in Tamil Nadu politics. Unfortunately that was the last mark Congress could make in Tamil Nadu. After Kamraj the Congress party never came to power.

Thantai Periyar started his own party and called it Dravida Kazhagam (DK). The party name had ‘Dravida’ in it, which gave a psychological comfort for all the Tamilians. But how would the party become famous, and known to the people? They needed a controversy to get a good publicity across Tamil Nadu and also India. That was the period when the Brahmin community was the most dominating community in South India. Disturbing the norm can always give you fame - which any political party needs badly.

DK partymen started breaking idols of Ganesha on roads, and started their anti-Brahminism drive. It gave them massive success. Even today the DK partymen don’t believe in rituals and scriptures - and call them all superstitions. And where are they in the political areana today? Nowhere!

Dr Anna Durai was the direct disciple of Thanthai Periyar, and was Periyar’s favourite. Anna was carried away by Periyar’s principles, thoughts and ideas. But then could not resist himself from parting away from Periyar, when he saw Thantai Periyar marrying a 19 year old woman at the age of 60!! Anna Thurai launched his own party and called it DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam). The party had D & K similar to the party he came from, and M stands for Munnetram – progress. So the party meant – a party for Tamilians’ Progress.

During Anna’s period, people had started taking immense interest in cinemas. The movie industry was booming, and people started forming their opinions based on what the Heroes said on the silver screen. People weren’t aware about the gimmicks, and the camera tricks involved in the process of movie making. They would take anything and everything very seriously. Anna at once understood that to emerge as a good political party, he has to use this medium. And God blessed him with two greatest people Tamil Nadu could ever produce – M Karunanidhi and the matinee idol MG Ramachandran (MGR).
Karunanidhi was an awesome script & dialogue writer and had an amazing oratory skill while MGR had already made his mark as a good actor. Anna used both these to get a mileage in his political career. Karunanidhi would pen scripts for movies, and MGR would spread the message of Anna in all the movies through his songs and dialogues. People had already started forming an opinion about the party, and were ready to vote to the party which MGR belonged to. DMK came to power and Anna became the CM of Tamil Nadu.

All was well till misfortune hit Anna. He died of ill health, and could not even complete his term of 5 years as the CM. As far as Anna was concerned, he had clear plans about his disciples. He wanted Karunanidhi to take over as party leader, and MGR would continue spreading his party message in movies. More than an actor, MGR was a better politician. He had difference of opinion with Karunanidhi, and launched his own and called it AIADMK – Annaithu India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (which means All India Anna Tamilians’ Progress Party).

People knew more about MGR and less about Anna or DMK or Karunanidhi during that period. They would do anything what MGR asked them to do. MGR contested in the polls, and made his party win without much problem. And for 15 years continuously MGR was the CM of Tamil Nadu. (In fact MGR (who was ill) even won his last election sitting in the US, without even campaigning for the party) DMK was thrown out completely.

After the political debacle DMK wanted some controversy to find a place in people’s mind. This was the period when the language Hindi was being introduced in Tamil Nadu, and it was made compulsory at schools. DMK seized this opportunity, and started their anti-Hindi drive. They started painting all Hindi letters displayed in railway stations, buses, cinema halls with black paint, and protested against the compulsion of Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Their purpose was met. They indeed could come back to people’s mind, but still none voted for them.

J Jayalalitha was MGR’s direct disciple, and was indeed an active partywoman. She spent immense number of years working for AIADMK, and with time she became synonym to the party MGR had floated. There was a minor controversy when MGR died. MGR’s wife Janaki Ramachandran wanted a taste of power, and JJ had to launch her own party temporarily. Anyways things were sorted out amicably between JJ and Janaki, and JJ was given the power of the party.

Fortune came to JJ in the form of misfortune. She was manhandled, hit, and her saree was swiped off in the assembly by the DMK partymen during one of the meetings. It thankfully became a sympathy drive for JJ, and she came back to power and became the CM of Tamil Nadu for the first time in the early 90s. The sad part was she could not handle complete power correctly, and got into hell lot of corruption issues. Though economically Tamil Nadu did the best during the first tenure of JJ, all could only think about the 100 crore marriage JJ got herself into.

DMK always knew the power of the film industry, and also JJ had rubbed the wrong side of Rajini Kanth in the mid-90s. Rajini’s campaign for DMK and the 100 crore marriage - all let JJ’s to an appalling defeat. DMK came to power, and that was the first time DMK could complete its 5 year tenure for the first time in the history of Tamil Nadu politics.

M Karunanidhi as usual could not handle politics better, and he refused to acknowledge Rajini’s charisma that brought him to power. Rajini said enough is enough let me remain outside politics, and made his spiritual movie Baba.

So what has Khushboo’s issue to do with Tamil Nadu politics?

Here is the answer -

1) AIADMK is the only strong party in Tamil Nadu at present and there are no competitors
2) DMK has no strong leader who can take the party forward after M Karunanidhi
3) And there is no 3rd party that is strong enough to give AIADMK a tough time or give people an option

There is strict competition for the 3rd place, and with actor Vijay Kanth launching is own party most other parties have a knee jerk.

If you have been noticing PMK’s moves in the recent past, they have deliberately got into controversies with films and film stars. That is because they know that they can get huge mileage doing the same, and nothing else can get them the needed publicity.

First it was pulling Rajini Kanth into controversy, later they asked Kamal Hasan to change the name of his movie to Virumandi from Sandiyar (and also created minor problems for Mumbai Express), and also asked director J Suriya to avoid naming his movie with English words. PMK got enough mileage getting into these controversies, and I am sure they are ready for more controversies in the future too.

Well if you ask me if PMK is really bothered about the virginity issue – I can bet my head that they are not. They are just enjoying the limelight. To prove the black side of politicians, we always can use lie detectors and see how many of them are living like a Ram in their personal lives.

And what can we expect in the near future – Vijay Kanth will create some controversies, and try giving his new party a face lift.

Other parties who got into limelight creating controversies

*Shiv Sena through its anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim violence
*VHP through Dara Singh who killed the Staines family
*BJP by blowing Babri Masjid issue out of proportion & also the famous Rath Yatra