Caste and community differences which marred many marriages have been hit for a six in Tamil Nadu. The new norm for a successful marriage is the political affiliation of the bride, the bridegroom  and their families. If what happened at Arni in Thiruvannamalai district is any indication, matchmakers have to be careful in future before finalising any prospective alliance.

Santhi and Shanmugham were to tie the nuptial knot on Saturday night, the culmination of a marriage arranged purely by the consent of  both the families. The pre-marriage ceremonies took off smoothly by early evening with the traditional nagaswaram recital while the guests were anxiously waiting for the Geet programme to be presented by  the local music band as part of the reception.

While the nagaswaram concert was on, P Padmanabhan, the bridegroom’s father , noted that the road and the wedding hall were decorated with flags and festoons of the DMK to welcome the district secretary of the party. It is mandatory on Tamil Nadu that the hosts should decorate the entire locality with party flags and festoons of the party of the guest list include any leaders from the Dravidian outfits.

Rajagopal, father of Shanthi, was a DMK activist and had invited the party’s district secretary  to bless the couple. It was only after the hosts informed the district secretary that the locality and marriage hall has been decorated with the posters of M Karunanidhi, M K Stalin and himself, the secretary left his residence for the marriage ceremony.

But Padmanabhan too had a guest, a VIP guest indeed. Sevoor S Ramachandran, Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department had assured Padmanabhan that he would attend the marriage and bless the couple. Hence Padmanabhan, a district level leader of the AIADMK asked Rajagopal to remove the DMK flags and festoons which definitely would have embarrassed the AIADMK Minister.

Rajagopal stood his ground and bluntly refused to remove the DMK flags and pictures of Kalaignar (as Karunanidhi was known) and Stalin. This annoyed the bridegroom and his father who told the girl’s side that the marriage would not take place until  the DMK flags were removed.  The bride Shanthi, who too is a camp follower of the DMK, told her father that the marriage need to be called off because it would be difficult to get along with  people who are hardcore AIADMK activists!

By early Sunday morning, Rajagopal took his daughter to the village temple and got her marriage solemnised with Ezhumalai, a close relation of the family. Padmanabhan and Shanmugham have filed a case with the Arni police station complaining about the ill-treatment meted out to them by the Rajagopals and has asked the police to make Rajagopal compensate for the money they spent on wedding arrangements.

In future, marriages in Tamil Nadu would be fixed after matching not only the horoscopes of the boy and the girl but the political affiliation of the families. The DMK and the AIADMK can never coexist under any circumstances, according to TTV Dinakaran, leader of the AMMK, a breakaway faction of the AIADMK.