Like most leaders in Southern States, Vaiko, too, has a penchant for publicity and fame. His opposition to the use of Hindi in Parliament is a gimmick
Politicians in Tamil Nadu, especially those who are moulded in the Dravidian gharana, have a penchant for publicity and fame. They want to be the cynosure of all eyes wherever they go. Starting from the ward committee member to the president of a party, none is free from this “passion” for recognition. They will not move out of their houses unless they are accompanied by a cavalcade of SUVs or cars, depending on their hierarchy in the party. Ward-level leaders are accompanied by an army of followers in auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers shouting: “Thalaivar Vaazhka”, meaning “Long Live the Leader.”
If they are invited for marriages or any social get-togethers, the organisers must ensure that the larger-than-life size posters of these leaders are displayed along the route they travel. Vayapuri Gopalasami, popularly known as Vaiko, the Telugu speaking Tamil leader of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), is no exception. Though he heads a letterhead organisation, his mission is to establish a separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. He was a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member of the Rajya Sabha for three terms (1978-96). When he turned out to be a threat for the coronation of MK Stalin as party chief, M Karunanidhi, threw Vaiko out of the party.
Vaiko had no option but to launch his own political outfit, the MDMK. But he saw the writing on the wall well in advance and sided with J Jayalalithaa’s All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1998 with active support from Jayalalithaa and the BJP. When the latter pulled down the then NDA Government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Vaiko turned emotional and jumped to the DMK. He was elected in the 1999 mid-term election with support from the DMK and the BJP. The MDMK managed to win four sears, including that of Vaiko.
By 2004, Vaiko turned secular, dumped the BJP and joined the UPA, led by the DMK and the Congress. Though his party won all contested seats, Vaiko stayed away from electoral politics as he had been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002 and was detained for 18 months for delivering pro-LTTE speeches. Jayalalithaa was adamant in her stance against the LTTE and Vaiko failed to dilute her hatred for the Tamil Tigers.
But his association with the DMK did not last long. Some of his close aides began to cross over to the DMK as they understood that Vaiko’s LTTE hopes would always remain a pipedream. Tamil Nadu has a motley crowd of LTTE supporters, which includes Maoists, Islamic extremists, Tamil nationalists, fringe political parties, some of the major factions of the Church and professional human right organisations. They are all financed by the LTTE and these beneficiaries return gratitude through pro-Eelam speeches and literature.
What is common among these groups is their opposition to any kind of progressive measure taken by the Central or State Government. For example, they demanded the abrogation of the Supreme Court order that banned the taming of bulls. These were the organisations, who stood against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. It is the same crowd, which is against the Sterlite Plat at Thoothukudi and the greenfield eight-lane Chennai — Salem state-of-the-art highway. They are also against the hydrocarbon exploration projects undertaken by the Central Government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Commission. What makes these agitations and groups unique is the presence of Vaiko, who is always in the forefront. His double-standards with respect to the Sterlite agitation became a butt of jokes.
Vaiko is also among those who are demanding the release of those convicted for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Congress is against any kind of amnesty to these assassins as they were all saved from the gallows by the top court and their sentence was converted to life-term as part of amnesty. It is strange that Vaiko has been braying for the blood of Sri Lanka, an island nation strategically important to India. Our ties with Colombo should never be sacrificed to satisfy the ego and vested interests of self-serving people.
KS Radhakrishnan, former associate of Vaiko, who switched over to the DMK, mentioned in his blog, My Love Affair with Don Quixote, the hero of a Spanish novel by the same name authored by Miguel de Cervantes. Alonso Quixano, a knight-errant, wanders all over the land in search of adventures to prove his chivalric virtues. Most of the characteristics displayed by Vaiko have similarities with Alonso Quixano, who addresses himself as Don Quixote!
Vaiko’s recent outbursts against Hindi is a point of interest. His “finding” is that the debates in Hindi have brought down the standard of discussions in Parliament. His allegation that Hindi, Hindu and Hindu Rashtra are all the same should be viewed as a statement made with ulterior motive. In a country where nearly two-thirds of the population speak Hindi, it is a sin to portray that language as belonging to a particular religion. If what Vaiko said is right, he should put an embargo on the Tamil actors’ penchant to act in Bollywood. Vaiko should also tell the Tamil film makers not to plagiarise Hindi songs.
Hundreds of thousands of children in Tamil Nadu are denied the opportunity to learn in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas because chauvinists like Vaiko will not allow the opening of such public schools, citing the two-language policy. It is a criminal offence to deny the poor and rural children an opportunity to learn in a public school, which charges nothing for quality education. The Congress remained a mute spectator even as Vaiko rubbished the very concept of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, launched by its own leader as part of the New Education Policy 1985. The Congress is afraid to tell this Don Quixote to stay away from preventing the opening of the schools in the State. Tamil Nadu is the only State which does not have a single Navodaya School thanks to the hardliners.
It may be a strange coincidence that while children of poor parents struggle to get admission in private schools, sons and daughters of leaders like Vaiko get admitted to the best schools and universities all across the country. Most of them end up as high paid managers in multi-national corporations or as monopoly dealers of tobacco products manufactured by MNCs. Vaiko’s love for Tamils in Sri Lanka itself is dubious. It was during the Manmohan Singh tenure that the Sri Lankan Army tamed the last challenge put up by the LTTE terrorists. A person no less than Gotabaya Rajapakshe, former defence secretary and the brain behind the obliteration of the Tamil Tiger terrorists, had told The Pioneer that the Indian Government as well as the then Tamil Nadu Government led by M Karunanidhi were kept in the loop about the Sri Lankan Army’s actions.
If Vaiko has any decency left and if he still loves Sri Lankan Tamils, he should maintain safe distance from both the Congress and the DMK instead of criticising Hindi debates in Parliament. Vaiko can never survive without publicity and media coverage. It is because of this reason that he attacked Hindi language. Now, when he makes an appearance in the Rajya Sabha, thanks to an act of charity by DMK president MK Stalin, he would be the “cynosure.” But Stalin sitting in the DMK headquarters may be chuckling. It was the same Vaiko who had challenged Stalin’s elevation in the DMK and left the party to form MDMK. Strange are the ways of fate!
(The writer is Special Correspondent, The Pioneer)
