New Adavus for Tamilnadu

                                                 New Adavus for Tamilnadu

Tamil politics runs parallel to its classical music and dance tradition that begins with adavu( walking steps)  Ta ki Ta , Ta ki Ta  jham, Ta ki Ta  Ta ki Ta…..Even  in the beginning of any  Kalakshepam ( Tamil monodrama, enacting a story mainly mythological), it begins with the song “ dimi kita,dimikita vadyam,mridangam  muzhanga…”( adavu sounds through musical instruments like drums…).  A Tamilian is so well acquainted with these adavus that s/he breaks into an impromptu clap of the hand counting the adavus on the fingers. The Tamil politics have a similar rhythmic adavu in its innumerable Dravidian parties-that go by the Tamil name “ Dravidian kazhagam”

If we trace the history of the Dravidian Movement, it was started by E.V.Ramasamy Naicker known also as Thanthai Periyar (Elder Father) in 1944 with the main objective to eradicate the evil caste system in Tamilnadu that was till then dominated by the upper caste Brahmins.  This DK then became DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( the Dravidian Progressive Federation)), then splintered into ADMK(Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), then into AIADMK(All India Anna Munnetra Kazhagam) and is awaiting an additional A to honour the late revered ‘Amma’  i.e.,  AAIADMK(Amma All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)- that is likely to see another split arising out of who is the true inheritor of Amma’s legacy-OPS or EPS , and thereof  designating  the new parties as AAIADMK(O) and AAIADMK(E). So the Tamils have new adavus , in imitation of  the bharatanatyam adavus (steps)  that will sound `Di Ka,  Di Ma Ka, A Di Ma Ka(where (‘A’ is pronounced as in “amma”),  AI,A Di MaKa,   A,AI A Di MaKa(O),  A,AI, A DiMaKa(E/S)… and God only knows how many of the 26 alphabets will get appended to the original Di Ka in the near future.

Tamils are known to be very intelligent, politically knowledgeable, shrewd to recognize who rocks the cradle and whose cradle to knock out and when to knock out. In the tussle between the different versions of DK, they have alternately been giving DMK and AIADMK a fair chance in order to reap the benefit of the freebies as per their respective pre-election promises. The only time AIADMK romped home victorious in successive elections was in 2016. But ironically the leader who singlehandedly won the elections for her party was in office just for a few months after the last elections, leaving the party rudderless and in a vacuum. From 1991 till 2016, -which makes it almost a quarter of a century AIADMK as a homogenous party walked the leader’s talk. Amma should have added ‘J’ to AIADMK   and rechristened the party as J AI ADMK instead of holding to the name AIADMK instituted by her mentor, the charismatic MGR. Now that she(J) is gone from where there will be no return, the obsequious minions hope to survive, swearing by her name and following her legacy. What is that legacy is a question none of them can answer except going to her grave and pledging loyalty to her.

Tamils known for their passion for the reel life, are watching the dance of democracy with the remote control from Bengaluru Jail. EPS invokes the spirit of the late leader Amma through the satellite Sasi/ Chinnamma while poor OPS, the thrice stand-by Chief Minister seeks Amma’s blessings from her photo in his pocket. Neither of them – the usurper and the pretender- has the wisdom to understand that the court had found both the star and the satellite, guilty of corruption and  sent the satellite  to the prison as  the star Amma  had set and escaped the ignominy of having Sasikala as partner in prison. Before her departure to her new home in B’luru, Chinnamma managed to split the party  on lines of loyalty and disloyalty to her. With Chinnamma no longer engaged in lighting candles but making candles in a cell where darkness is visible , the  two warring groups  can only  swear by Amma and  effectively endorse corruption  that had tarnished  her image.

 No one knows or comes forward to speak about Jaya-Sasi relationship except that it was a blow hot, blow cold relationship. There seems to have been no love lost between the two and it is difficult to say who used who in amassing the huge disproportionate assets. In fact , the former Finance Minister P.Chidambaram wonders how Jaya, an intelligent person failed to realize that she was pushed into a dangerous cul de sac from which there was no possibility of escape. Though there is no excusing the blunder committed by Jaya, it is to be said in all fairness that she used her intelligence to design innovative schemes of subsidized food, water, medicine that would directly serve the people and especially the women. Maybe this was the way she worked to atone for her past mistakes; maybe after the long black corrupt practices during her first tenure as Chief Minister(1991-96)(as all the subsequent charges during her next three innings as Chief Minister did not stick)she displayed the redeeming drop of moral decency and generosity of spirit that made her the revered “Amma” of the people.

 But there is no redemption for Sasikala. Her attempt to use money and muscle power to take over as the Chief Minister and that too soon after the death of Jaya whom she served as her personal assistant. What was her hold on Jaya is a mystery and we will have to be content with the fact that Jaya is no more to give her side of the story. It is a pity that our law enforcing authority allowed Sasikala who called herself Chinnamma to delay her surrender by 24 hours when the Court had decreed immediate surrender. The 24 hours was enough for her to be at her manipulative best, using the corrupt money she had amassed. What is the 10 crore fine by the court when she has many many crores stashed away in properties in foreign countries?   It is a pity that her machinations have worked for the time being. But how long can AIADMK hold without splitting again to ‘O’ and ‘E/S’ parties. AIADMK has self destructed itself.  But then they swear allegiance to Amma who has been brought down the pedestal by the court decree. 

Can Tamilnadu continue to dance to the adavus of Di Mu Ka and Adimuka with ‘E/S’ and ‘O’ added? One prays and wishes for a new adavu that steers clear of exclusive Dravidian politics and replaces it by an inclusive national politics that preserves the Tamil identity within the Indian identity. Can Tamils who have earned the respect of millions of Indians for their intelligence, administrative skills,  hard work and pride in their culture make all efforts to get rid of insularity  and join the mainstream to contribute their quality of mind and spirit  as in the past for the glory of India? 

 Yes I see a glimmer of light in the abyss of darkness. This is likely to happen in the near future. The cataclysmic upheaval in Tamilnadu politics will be a blessing in disguise. Like the churning of the milky ocean that separated the Amrut from the poison, this  political churning will  destroy selfish greed and ambition of the politicians and bring forth a new decent group that has no caste baggage to carry, that  does not suffer from complex and prejudices of being imposed by the Northerners, that will set aside its petty and insular parochialism and seek a national identity overarching its provincial identity. It is time to look beyond Amma and blank out Chinnamma for when the Star no longer shines, there is no role for a satellite to orbit. We don’t need Dravida adavus any longer as Tamils have moved all over the globe creating their own brand of adavus. Hope they now dance to a new tune of democracy that combines localism with nationalism.