Tamil Nadu poll 2016: Place of kin and role of gods and floods!

-Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

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The kith and kin of several political leaders, along with leaders themselves, are testing their political fortunes in the 16 May assembly elections, just like in all states of India, in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala. Party leaders prefer their own kin and kith to occupy their own positions in the parties like Chief Ministers, MLAs, MPs, etc.  Interestingly even party workers promote the children of the leaders as a usual practice.

Of late the politicians have become religious, at least they try to show to the people that they are ‘god fearing’. However, they continue to be corrupt and do not do anything for the people unless bribe is given beforehand.  They highly self centered, corrupt, deceptive and they all the time look for opportunities to outsmart each other and climb the political and career ladder as quickly as possible. People are just their key tool to fulfill their life ambitions.

People generally do not trust the politicians.

Some villages have boycotted the sitting MLAs and even driven out of their villages for forsaken the constituencies after getting elected by the people and they never fulfilled the promises  a but betrayed the mandate   by  making money and  increasing  their wealth.

The giant floods damaged the even feeble hopes of life of common people in many parts of the state. People, except the AIADMK supporters lament the absence of CM in the localities that were reeling under the floods.  

Kith and kin

Among the prominent faces in Tamil Nadu are five-time MLA MK Stalin, who is DMK Treasurer and son of party chief chief M Karunanidhi, and Anbumani Ramadoss, son of PMK founder S Ramadoss.

93-year-old Karunanidhi himself is seeking re-election from his native Thiruvarur, as he eyes a sixth term as chief minister. Stalin, the youngest son of Karunanidhi and considered his political heir, is contesting from the Kolathur constituency in Chennai city for the second time. In the 2011 election, he had won from there, defeating AIADMK's 'Saidai' Duraisamy.

63-year-old Stalin plunged into politics early in his life and made steady progress to reach the present position of DMK Treasurer and Secretary of Youth Wing. Stalin first entered the poll fray in 1984 from the Thousand Lights constituency but failed. However, he later won from there in the 1989, 1996, 2001 and 2006 elections. In 2006, he was inducted as Municipal Administration Minister and later elevated as Deputy Chief Minister. He had also served as Mayor of Chennai between 1996-2001.

Anbumani Ramadoss, the party's chief ministerial candidate, is seeking his maiden entry in the state assembly from Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district. A former union health minister, Anbumani is a sitting MP (Lok Sabha member) from Dharmapuri constituency, which includes the Pennagaram segment where he is trying his luck to get elected to Tamil Nadu assembly. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2004 to 2010. Interestingly, his father Dr. Ramadoss, founder of PMK, has never contested elections. He is not in fray this time as well.

Senior DMK leader and former union minister TR Baalu's son TRB Rajaa is seeking election from Mannargudi constituency for the second straight time. Rajaa is pitted against S Kamaraj who has a 30-year-old association with AIADMK. Credited for upgrading the Mannargudi Railway Station during his tenure, Rajaa, however, faces criticism for allegedly being 'inaccessible'. Another member from the DMK family is 'Veerapandi' A Rajendran alias A Raja, contesting from the Veerapandi constituency in Salem district. Rajendran is the son of the late DMK leader and former state minister 'Veerapandi' S Arumugam. While Arumugam was unsuccessful in the 2011 elections, his son is making his maiden attempt from the constituency in this poll. Arumugam considered a close associate of Karunanidhi and the party's strongman in the western region has won five times from the constituency. In an interesting duel, he is pitted against his cousin S Manonmani of AIADMK.

BJP Tamil Nadu unit Chief Tamilisai Soundararajan, a doctor before entering active politics, contesting from the Virugambakkam constituency also comes from a family with a political background. While her father Kumari Anandan is a veteran Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president and an elected MP from Nagercoil, her uncle is noted businessman and Congress leader, H Vasantha Kumar, who is in the poll fray from Nanguneri segment in Tirunelveli district.

Gods

The battle for the Indira Nagar Constituency in Puducherry seems to have taken on divine proportions. Apart from the normal political campaigning, the two main candidates — All India NR Congress' candidate and Chief Minister N Rangasamy and Congress candidate V Aroumougam — have been spending precious pre-election time performing a number of rituals to ensure their victory.

In the run-up to the elections, neither Rangasamy nor anyone from his party held any formal talks with other parties, and made no announcements. Instead, through March-April, Rangasamy visited a series of temples and performed several pujas, culminating in a series of 21 yaagas in one night, before he announced his preliminary list of candidates.

Aroumougam, on the other hand, performed ashwamedhayaaga, riding his horse around the constituency for 108 consecutive days to ensure his victory. “The ashwamedhayaaga was performed by kings earlier to mark the extent of their territory. I am performing this yaaga so that I will be successful, and also so that I can defeat Rangasamy,” he said.

It is common knowledge in Puducherry that Rangasamy believes in divine intervention. “This is not unusual for Rangasamy,” a party member said. “In fact, what is unusual is that he has cancelled a trip to Malaysia to visit the Murugan temple there, and a couple of other pilgrimages,” he added. It is impossible to see Rangasamy start any new venture at an inauspicious time, and he constantly checks his watch before signing an important document.

According to a friend from his school days, the religiously-inclined politician visited his guru, Appa Paithiya Swamy, as often as possible while growing up. Appa Paithiya Swamy, himself, was an unusual saint. A chain smoker, he would curse people who visited him. “Now, whenever Rangasamy is offering prayers, he takes a puff of a cigarette, places it on the lips of the idol, and then speaks. He believes that Appa Paithiya Swamy is offering him advice,” the friend added. The Chief Minister even built a temple dedicated to him in Puducherry, and regularly serves food to people there.

Although Puducherry politicians have extreme religious inclinations, religion and superstitions play a huge role in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry politics.

The most prominent example is that of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's. She is often seen in either a green or a maroon saree, and people close to her say she believes that these two colors help her. “For all important events, like her swearing in, and court appearances, she wears her green saree. She is also very particular about time, and follows her astrologer’s advice every step of the way,” AIADMK sources say. On her way to court or the airport, she always stops at the small Varasiddhi Vinayagar temple near Kotturpuram bridge, and the temple priests offer prayers in the sanctum sanctorum as she passes by. “Jayalalithaa makes it a point to visit a number of temples, and even visited the Mahamaham in Trichy (in 1992),” sources said. During this visit, her presence caused a stampede which took 50 lives and injured 74 — following which she never went back to the festival.

According to sources, Vijayakanth, leader of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), and Chief Ministerial candidate for the People’s Welfare Front (PWF), too, depends on a little support from the gods. In the past three elections, he has stood in three different constituencies in the South Arcot region: Vriddhachalam, Rishivandiyam and now in Ulundurpet. Sources say  “Vijayakanth believes in temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, and he looks for temples where the deities’ names end with ‘Ri’”. Rishivandiyam and Ilavanasur (in Ulundurpet), both have Ardhanariswarar temples, while Vriddhachalam has the Vriddhagiri temple.

Even though he stands in the South Arcot region due to his huge fan base there, he makes it a point to choose a constituency with a temple that will be favourable to him. Even the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), known for its atheist ideology, has relaxed its rules a bit. According to party sources, many cadres are now seen as religious, and offer prayers for the party’s victory. Recently, hardcore atheist DMK leader MK Stalin’s visit to an ancient Vaishnavite temple raised some eyebrows. He visited the Sowmya Narayanaswamy temple in Tirukoshtiyur in Ramanathapuram district along with his wife, Durga. This temple is believed to be the place where the Vaishnavite saint Ramanujar revealed a secret mantra to the people of the village. “Karunanidhi even scripted a serial on Ramanujar that is being telecast on his own Kalaignar TV. The family believes in the message of equality delivered by the saint, which is why they have chosen to patronize him,” a senior DMK member said.

Whether party head M Karunanidhi is actually a believer or not, one cannot miss the yellow towel draped around his shoulders. “Karunanidhi will never leave his house without the yellow towel around his shoulders, which he believes is his good luck charm,” the party member added.

“Government insensitive to the floods”

The giant floods of December 2015 unleashed in Chennai and some other parts of Tamil Nadu brought havoc  in terms of  loss of lives, diseases and destruction of property worth millions and bad name for  CM Jayalalithaa and many now complain she never cared to visit the people and consoled the death of their dear ones. Last Diwali, incessant rains caused floods that tore through Cuddalore district, changing the lives of the people forever. In the villages that were affected by the floods in November, the situation is yet to return to normalcy. In some places, people are still being housed in temporary shelters, while in others the damage done by the floods have not yet been corrected.

This election, rather than seeking the ever-tempting freebies, people in the flood-affected areas ask that the victor must help restore their lives to its former state. “Even though we received Rs 5000 from the government, and I received Rs 5 lakhs for my family members, with no livelihood and no house to call my own, I can say that this government has failed us,” said Anjalai, a resident of Periyakaatupalayam village. The government gave us mixies, grinders, televisions, and other appliances, but all of them were washed away in the floods. Now, it feels like the government itself has washed its hands of us, leaving us to rot here in the temporary shelter, which they are threatening to dismantle after the elections,” she continued.

In Cuddalore, the floods and its aftermath have neither been forgiven, nor forgotten.

70-year-old Amirtham points to her temporary residence, a tin-sheet shelter constructed by the Tamil Nadu government following the floods of December 2015. She has been living there with a few others from the Arundhathiyar Colony in Periyakaatupalayam village for close to six months. Amirtham lost eight family members and all of her belongings in the floods. “The government has not done enough to help,” she said. She and others like her in this village are categorical – on 16 May, they want to exercise their franchise to vote a new party into power. 

People in the relief camp in the village are all from the Arundhathiyar Colony – Arundhathiyars are Scheduled Caste Dalits and amongst the poorest section of the state. While a few of them have been processing cashew over the last two months, the barren fields have meant that there is nothing to sustain them. “Earlier, there were five families living in one 10-by-10-foot enclosure, but now many families have decided to move out. Only the families that have no place to go and no money have been forced to stay here,” said 60-year-old Neelamma, one of the residents of the relief camp.

Many of the families in the area have not received the money that the government promised to help rebuild their houses. “Although this village was filled with AIADMK supporters, after the floods, we have decided to switch loyalties,” Poongodhai, a resident stated.

Government sources say land has been identified to build permanent shelters for the 10 to 15 families that continue to live in the shelter. The work has been stalled because of the elections, but they expect to relocate them soon after the new government takes over.

People outside the colony in Periyakaatupalayam, too, say that they are finding it difficult to make ends meet. S Velmurugan used to run a cable TV business in the village.

The situation is similar in other villages that faced extensive damage in the floods. Kalkunam village was flooded by water released from the mines in the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) through the Sengal Odai canal. Villagers say the government has promised to rebuild the canal through which water comes in from NLC, but allege that no one has come in yet to survey the area.

While Periyakaatupalayam and Kalkunam were flooded by water released from the mines of the NLC, in Visur village, water from the surrounding forest entered the village, destroying several acres of farmland and over 100 houses. “Our village has become a tourist site, with several politicians, actors, and reporters visiting, but so far, nothing concrete has happened,” Sarangapani, a local landlord lamented. He has lost around eight acres worth of paddy yields, and even now the government has not helped paid the full amount they promised.

Rajavelu, an agricultural labourer, says that the government has promised Rs 1.2 lakhs to help rebuild houses, but this amount is not enough. “This election, a group of us have decided not to vote, since none of the parties will help us rebuild our lives to what it was,” he said.

Residents of Melkangeyan Kuppam Colony echo the sentiment. Here, all the women depend on processing cashew nuts for their livelihood. Processing cashew leaves them with blackened hands, which break out into blisters when they spend too long working. Neither the employers, nor the government offer them safe working conditions, and the women say that they spend more on medical expenses than they make processing cashew.  Another repeated demand is that of assurances of safe working conditions for cashew workers, most of whom are women. “If any of the parties will ensure us jobs throughout the year, a factory for livelihood, or even safe working conditions for the women who process cashew, we would be tempted to vote for them. Now, however, it seems like none of the parties are even willing to discuss our problems during the elections,” a woman shook her head.

Apart from some developmental work in the state, the AIAADMK is stressing on the freebies it gave to people of the state. While some poor people, especially illiterates and villagers praise Jayalalithaa government for the freebies, the educated sections condemn the ‘unhealthy’ practice. They say the freebies would get addicted to freebies and get passive in life struggle to come up and achieve something in life.  PMK’s CM candidates Anbumani continues to criticize the AIADMK government of surviving by the ‘useless’ freebees without undertaking any serious worthwhile projects to uplift poor and common folk.

Anbumani says instead of freebies, he, if elected to power, would guarantee free and quality education and training to all and standardize quality of education in government institutions so that people can avoid private educational institutions and waste their earning only on children education. He has announced a comprehensive plan for a healthy and prosperous Tamil Nadu. CM Jayalalithaa says she has already done a lot in those directions.

Meanwhile, the opinion polls show the new PWA led by Vaiko with Vijayakanth as CM candidate has been steadily improving its visibility and acceptability by the people, particularly  younger generation of Tamils. In a TV debate a prominent PMK leaders said their party would reap benefits in the polls and there would be coalition government in the state, possibly meaning a post poll tie up with PWA for formation of the government. However, the DMK and Congress leaders say they will regain power from AIADMK in a matter of week. But AIADMK is fully confident about their retaining power at the Madras Fort.