| ஒத்திசைவு | प्रत्याह्वय | resonance |

Tamil Nadu’s octogenarian Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, has a big family to take care of. He has married three times. His first wife, Padma, died young. A son from that marriage, Muthu, remained estranged from his father for a long time, hobnobbing with Karunanidhi’s political foes after an unsuccessful attempt at a film career. Karunanidhi is still married to his second wife, Dayalu, with whom he has three sons (Azhagiri, Stalin, Tamilarasu) and a daughter (Selvi). Karunanidhi also has an “unofficial wife,” Rajathi, with whom he has a daughter, Kanimozhi. (This sort of marital arrangement is fairly common among Tamils of Karunanidhi’s generation, and it is not considered a potential source of scandal. He regularly includes them both in public events and official travel.) The two live in separate houses in Chennai, and he divides his time between them. (அழுத்தம் என்னுடையது)

திமுக-வின் கொள்கை(!):

Karunanidhi has long dominated Tamil Nadu’s politics. He is the unquestioned leader of the DMK, a regional Tamil party with no obvious ideology other than support for Karunanidhi and a desire to remain in power.

திமுகவின் இரண்டு குறிக்கோள்கள் + அதன் ‘வளைந்து கொடுக்கும்’ தன்மை:

Its main goal is to retain control of Tamil Nadu, where it has generally alternated terms of government there with its arch-rival AIADMK. Its secondary goal is to remain part of the national government, a goal made easier by the party’s ideological malleability, which allows it to join national governments led by the Congress Party, the BJP, or almost anybody else.

இசுடாலிர் பற்றிய ஒரு சிறு வரலாற்றுக் குறிப்பு:

Stalin had something of a thuggish reputation in the 1970s, including alleged involvement in multiple sex scandals. (Many in Chennai still tell stories, perhaps apocryphal, of pretty girls being plucked off the streets and handed over to Stalin for his amusement.) He matured and shed this image in the late 1980s,

(இந்த விஷயங்களைப் பற்றி நான் நேரடியாக – குறைந்த பட்சம் – இப்படி அநியாயத்துக்குச் சீரழிக்கப்பட்ட ஒரு பாவப்பட்ட பெண்ணின் தாய்வழிப் பாட்டனார் மூலம் அறிந்தவன்; இந்தப் பெண்ணானவர் மூன்று முறை தற்கொலைக்கு முயன்று, மனம் பேதலித்து,  பின்னர் அவர்கள் குடும்பமே மும்பய் நகருக்குக் குடிபெயர்ந்து விட்டது. இவ்விஷயங்கள் நடந்து சுமார் 30 ஆண்டுகளாகி விட்டன. …ஆகவே இவற்றை வெற்று வதந்திகள் என என்னால் இடக்கையால் புறம்தள்ள முடியாது)

அழகிரி மதுரைக்கு அனுப்பப்பட்டது பற்றி:

Stalin’s older brother, Azhagiri, recently named India’s Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, remains a controversial figure. His rivalry with Stalin is legendary in Tamil Nadu. After years of feuding, Karunanidhi sent him in 1989 to the city of Madurai, hundreds of miles away from Chennai in southern Tami Nadu, ostensibly to take care of the party newspaper, but more with a view toward avoiding clashes between the sons.

அழகிரியும் தா.கிருட்டிணன் கொலையும்:

Azhagiri’s notoriety extends past the usual political theatrics. In May 2003, Tamil Nadu police arrested Azhagiri for criminal conspiracy and murder in a case relating to the stabbing death of T. Kiruttinan, a senior DMK leader and former state-level minister and Member of Parliament. Prosecutors charged that Azhagiri conspired to have Kiruttinan murdered because he was challenging Azhagiri’s control of the DMK’s leadership in the state’s southern districts. Karunanidhi, however, claimed that the arrest was a political vendetta by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa (his arch-rival who had taken over in Tamil Nadu when her AIADMK party won the legislative assembly elections in 2001). In May 2008, the presiding judge in the case acquitted Azhagiri and the 12 others indicted in the case, declaring the state’s allegations “not proved.”

அழகிரியும் ஸன் டீவி கொலைகளும்:

At least one other major violent incident is linked to Azhagiri and his cronies. In 2007, Azhagiri’s supporters attacked and burned the Dinakaran newspaper office in Madurai, killing three employees. The attack followed the paper’s publication of a survey showing that Stalin was much more popular than Azhagiri. Sixteen people, including a police officer, were charged in the incident. Azhagiri, however, was not among the accused.

அழகிரியும் ‘திருமங்கலம் ஃபார்மூலா’வும்:

In addition to mobilizing an army of fully committed party workers, Azhagiri had the DMK pay cash bribes to lure voters on a scale never seen before in Tamil Nadu. Even the DMK’s opponents grudgingly admired the breadth and brazenness of Azhagiri’s cash-for-votes distribution network. After ensuring a DMK victory in the 2009 by-election, which was seen as a bellwether for the upcoming national elections, Azhagiri assumed his first-ever official position in the party.

கனிமொழியின் ஏமாற்றம்:

Another family member, Karunanidhi’s grand-nephew Dayanidhi Maran, was made the Union Minister for Textiles. The final DMK ministerial post was given to A. Raja, who kept his post as Minister for Communications and Information Technology. This left Kanimozhi, Karunanidhi’s daughter by his “unofficial wife,” out in the cold despite heavy lobbying by her supporters. Sources close to Kanimozhi told us that she remains deeply upset at being denied a cabinet position. According to local journalists, she is expecting a promotion in the party to compensate for it.

கருணாநிதியின் நாற்காலியை விட்டு இறங்காத்தன்மை, இசுடாலிர் ‘நோய்’ இன்னபிற:

It is not clear whether his decision to elevate Stalin signals Karunanidhi’s intent to retire from active politics soon. A media contact told post that Karunanidhi has no intention of stepping down, but a source close to Stalin suggested the Chief Minister might retire in the near future. After a spinal cord surgery in February, Karunanidhi has been in pain and wheelchair-bound. Stalin’s health condition is unclear: he is rumored to be suffering from an undisclosed ailment (allegedly intestinal cancer). He visited London in June 2008, reportedly for a medical examination.

இசுடாலிரும் அழகிரியும் –  நிறைகுறைகள்;

Karunanidhi’s efforts to forestall a succession fight by dividing political turf between Azhagiri and Stalin will likely fail. Azhagiri, who speaks little English and no Hindi, will have difficulty in the New Delhi political scene. He is at heart very much a provincial Tamil Nadu politician, who will no doubt want to contest for power in the state once his father leaves the scene. This will put him at odds with Stalin, who compensates for his lack of charisma with a willingness to work hard and to listen to the advice of trusted bureaucrats and senior party leaders. Stalin, anointed by Karunanidhi, is likely to come out on top because he is more acceptable than his pugnacious and rough-hewn brother.