Wednesday’s whirlwind tour by film actor-turned politician Rajinikanth to the trouble-torn Thoothukudi where last week’s police firing claimed 13 lives has brought him more laurels than what he could get from his four-decades long professional career in films. By Thursday morning Tamil Nadu Government deployed more than 200 policemen around his residence in Poes Garden following intelligence reports that Tamil fringe groups may unleash an attack on the actor.
In addition to these developments, stage has begun for a political churning process in Tamil Nadu with the ruling AIADMK cosying up to Rajnikanth. The AIADMK mouthpiece Namathu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma welcomed the comments made by the actor about the developments in Thoothukudi.
Rajinikanth’s blunt replies to the questions posed by the Dravidian media at Chennai airport on his return from Thoothukudy on Wednesday evening saw traditional politicians squirming and coming out with statements questioning the locus standi of the actor for his observations. At Thoothukudi, during an interaction with the media, Rajinikanth said according to the information he received, anti-social elements had fomented the troubles which led to police firing and death of people.
“Anti-social elements had infiltrated the protests and created trouble. The people who participated in the protests including the fishermen were innocent. The same thing had happened on the final day of the Jallikkattu protests at Marina Beach in Chennai in early 2017. I will never accept policemen in uniform being attacked,” Rajinikanth.
What shook the Opposition DMK and its allies were the conviction and authority with which Rajinikanth spoke on his return from Thoothukudi.
He warned that continuous protests would turn Tamil Nadu into a graveyard. When some of the scribes persisted with the same questions, the actor told them to ask something different. Rajinikanth also declared that had Jayalalithaa been alive such things would not have happened. “She used to handle anti-social elements with an iron hand and that is what we want now,” said the actor.
While Rajnikanth expressed his Opposition to the Sterlite Copper unit at Thoothukudi, he appealed to the people not to resort to agitation against every industrial investment being made in the State. What made the Rajnikanth show interesting was the model Assembly held by the Opposition DMK in the party headquarters at Chennai. Stalin has sworn on Monday that he would not participate in the legislative Assembly proceedings till Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy resigns owning up moral responsibility for the police firing at Thoothukudi. But according to sources in the DMK, Stalin and his DMK MlAs would return to the Assembly soon lest they are obershadowed by Thalaivar Rajnikanth.
It turned out to be a major blow for the DMK by Thursday when Palaniswamy, while addressing the House said that it was Stalin, the then Minister for industries in the Karunanidhi Cabinet justified the Sterlite Copper plant in 2010. The Chief Minister read out a statement made by Stalin in the House in 2010 about the Rs 1500 crore plans for the Sterlite plant and the then Government’s decision to allocate 230 acres of land for the factory’s expansion.