1975, 5.00pm: Lakshmipuram IInd Street. 15 minutes away from the residence of Mr Karunanidhi’s gopalapuram residence. A group of 7 goons descended on this calm street, pulled a man from his house and started beating him mercilessly. His yelling is heard the entire street. People were watching, his wife was desperately trying to save him. While being hit he was repeatedly asked… so you want to write against MK. After 20 -25 minutes, the man was left half conscious, bleeding and the goons jogged away. People were whispering that the assaulted man was a journalist and wrote articles against Karunanidhi. I was a kid and that was my first introduction to Mr Karunanidhi. People in tamilnadu know that its 100 % futile to go to police or attempt to get justice. They know that tamilnadu has two types of goons. The uniformed ones paid by the exchequer and the professional ones hired by politicians. When needed the politician uses both types of goons to silence the public. People of tamilnadu are hence a silent lot and cannot afford to exercise the right of protest. Democracy for them ends after the vote is cast.
Mr Karunanidhi started off his career as a writer and wrote some powerful dialogues for Tamil movies which were made immortal by being rendered by the Tamil actor shivaji ganesan. People who saw the movie “Para shakthi” recall the power of the dialogues with hair raising awe. In Tamil filimi style we present, Mr Karunanidhi, his family and tamilnadu.
1. At a Christian convention: At a Christian convention he said that the word Hindu means robber. The response of the Hindu community is noteworthy. It was considered a ranting of an old man. Later one of the most important Hindu leaders visited him at his home to placate him. MK’s wife fell on the feet of Shri Sai Baba as if in atonement for the sins of her husband. Why did he choose a Christian convention to say that? Was he paid by the missionaries for saying that? May be yes. We don’t know, but by saying so he played straight into the hands of Christian missionaries. How Christian missionaries have used it to their advantage is a different topic. Does that mean MK is so fragile that for a few dollars he will get triggered off to shoot his mouth? Is this the way he wants to repay a Hindu nation which has honoured him with chief minister ship for so many times. Does he really care for the sentiments of Dravidians? Would he dare to call a Muslim or a Christian as robbers? No he wont, reason… it is simple straight forward fear. He has no fear for the Hindus as its 100% sure that don’t kill.
2. His role behind the sankaracharya arrest: He was delighted beyond words after the arrest. He was grinning ear to ear at the arrest of the religious pontiff. He took a dig at his rival Ms Jayalalitha by saying that if he were in power that would not have happened. Even Mr Advani bought that statement. The fact was obvious for the tamilian on the street. Sankaracharya’s arrest was triggered off by strong virulent articles in the Tamil magazine Nakeeran. Nakeeren editor (Gopal) is a strong pro Dravidian personality. His contention was that Ms Jayalalitha was a Brahmin and hence not taking action against the sankaracharya. Mr Gopal wrote those articles to embarrass Ms Jayalalitha. It was becoming politically expensive for her not to act. She initiated the arrest. Mr Gopal would not have written those articles if Mr Karunanidhi was in power as he would not want to embarrass a co-Dravidian. That is what Karunanidhi meant. Mr Nakeeran is the same person who acted as the negotiator with the sandalwood smuggler and killer Veerappan when the Kannada superstar Mr Rajkumar was kidnapped. That is a different story.
3. Attack on the soft underbelly of Hinduism: Attack on Brahmins of tamilnadu is a favourite pastime of the Dravidian parties. The attacks are motivated because of one single factor. Brahmins are soft targets. They do not spill blood. They do not hit back physically. For a party which has goondaism as an ethic, this is an entertainment for them. Attack includes physical assaults. Tamil Brahmin men grow a small pony tail shaped tuft of hair called as the kudimi. It is positioned in the same place where the Jews wear the yarmulke. Unlike yarmulke this is hair. Young Brahmin boys 10 years and above have it. That tuft of hair is pulled as Brahmin boys go around their duties by the youth wing of the Dravidian parties. Its simple straight forward assault. How would Jews react if his kippah is pulled out of his head forcibly? How would Muslim’s react if his beard is pulled out forcibly? How would Christian’s react if his cross is pulled out of his neck forcibly? The religious orientation of the Brahmins has another feature called the sacred thread which is worn across the chest. Cutting it forcibly is another pastime of these MK hoodlums. In a recent instance, Mk hoodlums entered a temple smashed the idols and cut the sacred thread of the Brahmins. Unfortunately if you go to he police, chances are that they will do the same. So there is basically no rule of law in tamilnadu.There seems to be a strong message for Brahmins in Tamilnadu. A message which says that “get violent” or you have no place in tamilnadu, because that is the culture of this state. While the position of Brahmins in tamilnadu is not as extreme as what Jews underwent during the 30’s neverthless its definitely harassment and assault.
4. Anti Hindi agitation & secessionist activities: He was one of the leader’s of the anti Hindi agitation in the 60s and 70s. He initiated a programme of defaming all Hindi titles with tar. Now for all the big anti-hindi talk, when threatened dismissal by the supreme court he mumbles in hindi. Back tracking is not new in politics but this is at the cost of his dignity. If he can back track on his anti hindi views which he held for 5 deacades its time he back tracks on his athiest and anti-brahmin thoughts also.
5. Sympathies with LTTE: He went to the extent of calling the IPKF as the Indian killing force. He refused to pay an official visit to the jawans returning from srilanka.The jawans were made to wait at the harbour in the blistering sun for hours. The Jain commission which went into the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi has passed several strictures against Mr Karunanidhi.How Ms Sonia Gandhi could join hands with a person who had sympathies with her husbands killers is only for her to answer.
6. His family & legacy: Dad MK was not a great role model and hence both his sons took responsibility for goondaism.They carved out territories. While his eldest son Alagiri terrorizes the southern parts of tamilnadu, his second son terrorises Chennai. Talk to a man on the street in Chennai and he will tell you thes many episodes of bad deeds by his family.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM MK
At this age at the end of his life wants to implement all those things which were favourite to him. Here are some samples.
1. He installed the statue of periyar statue at the entrance of the famous srirangam temple. Mr periayar was a man without god. Why would you want his statue outside the temple? It was to serve as a reminder of the dravidian party’s mockery of Hinduism. This idea was first verbalized in 1969. He completed it now.
2. Sankaracharya has been indicted in the cases which were filed against him and one morning the nation is going to wake up to the news that he has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.Watch this space.
3. At the chief ministers conference in Andhra Pradesh recently he said that the central government should take measures to prevent water problems otherwise it could lead to problems including seceding from the country. He first conceived the idea of secessionism in 1965. If given elbow room he would open up the idea of secession from India. Watch this space.
POLITICAL SPIN-OFF
May be this will give Hindu parties a strong hold in tamilnadu which was missing for a long time. He has angered a vast section of Hindus by his rants. Mr Yashwant sinha has said it right that MK would have been skinned if had said the same for other religions. ( inferring Mr Allah or Mr Jesus are imaginary characters) His anti Hindu tirade must be a shock for northerners but people in tamilnadu has known it for long. His 40 MP seats have given him leverage over the minority central government. Mr Advani has rightly said that after the left its Karunanidhi who is the most destabilising.
Not that tamilnadu doesn’t have leaders. It’s not possible to be a saint while being a politician. But it has Mr Chidambaram and Mr Manishakar Iyer. Call it pedigree, or may be this is what is meant by higher caste approach. These people don’t stoop so low and have had some degree of class and sophistication in them which is pathetically missing from Mr Karunanidhi. Having started his career as a goon there is no way he is going to understand the language of peace and dialogue which Hinduism practices. Mr Karunanidhi is a bully… loud outside but timid inside. His fear was there for all to see when he was arrested by Chennai police… he was yelling repeatedly… “They are killing me… they are killing me”.Ms Jayalalitha knew only that would work. Another example of the goon approach is from one of his coalition partners. We have the union health minister Mr Anbumani who is running amok at the health ministry in Delhi.
Every nation, province has had its share of rouge rulers and fortunately for the citizens history consumes them all. Until then there is no other option for people under such rulers but to suffer in silence. India has other colourful political personalities, but they act within the constitution. This man portents danger for India.The original Mrs Gandhi i.e. India Gandhi saw him through and put him behind bars.
Apparently in his world of delusion and anti Hindu hatred he has forgotten that there is something called as governance. Take a drive to north Chennai to see the plight of his Dravidians…whose cause he seems to represent. Civic infrastructure is appalling, roads are pot-holed, bridges are congested, sewage overflows, corruption is a norm at police stations, water supply system is one big corrupt money spinning business. If it rains, north Chennai is an oasis of sewage and dirt. Living conditions are close to sub-human.
In the meanwhile his loose talk has managed to deflect the criticism away from Sonia gandhi and the central government. Mrs Sonia must be thanking MK within herself and also grinning to herself about the entire Ram sethu affadavit episode.Perhaps that is what she meant when said at the UN summit that “all is fine back home” for the simple reason she just dosent care. Are we right ?
