In a series of bizarre incidents, hundreds of cadre belonging to the DMK, came out in the open challenging the party leadership’s decision to field certain persons as party candidates in the districts of Vellore, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai, Salem and Tiruchirappalli for the May 16 Assembly election. What began as a small protest march in Vellore on Thursday, the Tamil New Year Day, spread to other districts by Friday. Some of the party cadre tried self-immolation in Jolarpettai in Vellore district necessitating police intervention.
Hundreds of party cadre marched to the fortified residence of party president Muthuvel Karunanidhi at Chennai’s Gopalapuram where they were prevented by armed police guards. The demonstrators raised slogans demanding justice and fair treatment from the party leadership.
The revolt by the cadre against the DMK leadership is over the nomination of outsiders in some of the constituencies overlooking the presence of prominent DMK leaders in these constituencies. “The party leadership has to take into account the pulse of the cadre and nominate local candidates in constituencies,” said one of the protesters.
The sudden spurt in demonstrations and self-immolation bids took the party leadership by surprise. “This is very strange and shocking as the DMK is known as a cadre based party in which there is no space for revolt. This is the first time we are seeing such protests and demonstrations in DMK,” said Radha Rajan, Chennai based political analyst and author.
The protests and demonstrations made Karunanidhi to issue an epistle addressing the party cadre calling for restraint. “Small internal differences should not be allowed to come in the way of the party’s victory,” pleaded Dr Kalaignar (as Karunanidhi is addressed by the cadre).
The DMK is a party known for its total obedience and servility to the Karunanidhi clan is seeing open revolt and rebellion against the leadership in most parts of the State over the selection of candidates for the May 16 election to the assembly. There were self-immolation bids in many places to protest against the candidates being fielded by the party.
“It is unfortunate and against all ethics for which the DMK stands,” said KP Ramalingam, MP and senior DMK leader. He said it is quite natural to have some kind of resentment over the nomination of some members as candidates. “We cannot nominate all those who have dreams and ambitions of becoming MlAs and MPs. There are more than one crore members in the DMK. Yes, this is the first time we are experiencing this kind of protests,” said Ramalingam who also said that he was confident that the protests would blow over in days to come.
Radhakrishnan, senior DMK leader who is a close confidante of MK Stalin said protests of this kind were unwarranted and unjustified. “This will be resolved in the next two or three days. Over enthusiasm too could lead to such demonstartions,” said Radhakrishnan.
But the party leadership is upset over the developments. “This is a serious development and is a reflection of the state of affairs in the DMK,” said a senior DMK leader.