In Tamil Nadu, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), founded by actor turned politician MGR (Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran), has stepped into its 52nd year. In the early 19th century, plays and cinemas had a profound impact on the society. DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) has grown rapidly by using MGR, the hero. However, MGR smelled foul when the wily Karunanidhi started to sideline MGR by promoting a fans association in the name of his actor son M K Muthu. There were rumours of corruption in handling party funds, and when MGR asked for details, Karunanidhi expelled him from the party, forcing MGR to hoist his own party, AIADMK.
MGR, not only in films but also in public life, has been quite clean, always helping the downtrodden. He used to take stern action whenever he received any complaint about party men in power. He treated all as equals without any religious bias. For him, the party belongs to each and every worker, which is why he did not leave the party in the hands of any of his heirs after his death. Votes of all nationalists, people who hate DMK’s policies, who are opposed to corruption, who do not belong to any party, etc., had all gone to AIADMK. Till his death, no corruption charges could be made against MGR. People still fondly remember him as the cleanest Chief Minister, next only to Kamaraj.
Corruption has crept into the AIADMK party right from Jayalalitha’s time onwards. A simple and easy-to-understand example is her Assistant Sasikala, who came into her fold with nothing, but now one will get tired of counting her assets. Many of her family members, such as TTV Dhinakaran, etc., have all prospered. Current General Secretary Palanisamy takes special care of the Muslims, such as pleading for the release of all Muslim prisoners who have completed long years in prison, the opening of a mosque inside Velur jail to facilitate prayers by Muslim prisoners to ensure minority votes during the forthcoming Parliamentary election in early 2024. Some AIADMK office-bearers openly claim DMK as their ‘pangalis’, meaning relatives. As a result, their traditional vote banks have started looking for other options beyond AIADMK.
The time has come for AIADMK to do the soul searching and see if they are travelling on the right path, as shown by its founder, MGR. If they feel they have deviated, they should correct themselves quickly and return to the right path. Otherwise, their traditional vote banks may get eroded gradually.
