Faced with a tough challenge in the upcoming election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the DMK has changed tack from its avid Hindu bashing and made a volte-face in its Dravidian and rationalist ideologies.
MK Stalin (62), treasurer of the DMK and heir apparent to party founder M Karunanidhi has declared that the DMK is a Hindu party. “In the DMK, 90 per cent of the cadre are Hindus and their family members had faith in religion and God,” Stalin told the media through social networking sites.
The DMK treasurer is on a State-wide journey named “We for Ourselves” to interact with various sections of the society. Interestingly, Stalin has made it known from each and every platform during his tour that his wife Durga is an ardent believer and prays at all temples.
Tamil Nadu’s leading political chronicler, N Kalyanasundaram, said he was taken aback by the declaration. “This is being done to appease the Hindu voters. This is an attempt to project the DMK as a pro-Hindu party as the DMK is losing ground in the State on a daily basis,” said Kalyanasundaram.
Stalin has been visiting all major temples during the “We for Ourselves” tour. Though the visits to temples were kept guarded from the public gaze in the initial phase, the strategy was changed following an announcement by MH Jawahirullah, leader of the Islamic outfit MMK, that his party would align with the ruling AIADMK.
The DMK is facing a precarious condition having lost all elections since 2011. The 2014 lok Sabha saw the party’s fortunes touching an all time low with it drawing a total blank. The ouster of MK Alagiri from the party has done an irreparable damage to the DMK.
Most of its one-time loyal allies have started flexing muscles for more seats and a share in the power. These factors have made Karunanidhi and Stalin resort to the soft-Hindutva stance.
Karunanidhi is entangled in a legal issue with Hindu activists for calling Hindus as thieves. A case filed by an activist Gautam Rmakrishnan is pending before the Madras High Court. In 2014, Stalin had drawn the ire of his father for greeting the Hindus on the occasion of Ganesh Chathurthi and he removed the greetings from his facebook page. Both Karunanidhi and Stalin greet people belonging to other communities during their religious festivals while they never greet the Hindus.
Kalyanasundaram pointed out that the DMK was built on three issues; anti-Brahmins, anti-Gods and anti-Hindi. “All these issues have become irrelevant in the changed times and the father-son duo is having a rethinking on the party’s strategy,” he said. CN Annadurai, founder of the DMK, had declared in 1942 that Hinduism has no place in Tamil Nadu as it was an ideology brought into the country by the Aryans.
A defeat in the upcoming poll would be detrimental to the DMK as the party is already facing internal bickering because of Karunanidhi promoting Stalin as his heir apparent though there are many capable senior leaders.