An controversial comment by H Raja, national secretary of the BJP, in his social media site has not only created a furore in Tamil Nadu’s political circles but also brought out the simmering factional fight in the DMK out in the open.
Reacting to the recent controversy over Governor Banwarilal Purohit patting on the cheek of a lady journalist who threw some questions at him during a televised Press briefing on Tuesday, Raja had said in his posting: “Whether journalists who asked many questions at the Press meet addressed by the Governor would be bold enough to pose such questions to a leader who had nominated his illegitimate child to Rajya SabhaIJ They will not. The memories of Chidambaram Udayakumar, Annanagar Ramesh and Perambalur Sathik Batcha would terrorise them.”
Except for Udayakumar, Ramesh and Batcha, the BJP leader had not mentioned anybody’s name. These three were persons who had close business relations with the Karunanidhi family and were found dead under mysterious conditions.
By Thursday evening, a section of the DMK leaders and cadre were out in the street all over Tamil Nadu burning the effigies of Raja and beating his posters with foot wears. In Ramanathapuram, Diwakaran, the DMK district secretary went on record and threatened that he would cut off Raja’s tongue for the “insulting remarks”.
A senior political observer in the State remarked that DMK working president MK Stalin seems to have killed two birds with just one stone and established his control over the party. “It is an open secret that there is a serious fight going on in the DMK between the factions headed by Stalin and Kanimozhi. The protests which we see are a manifestation of this strong turf war between the two,” said the observer who did not want his name to be quoted for obvious reasons.
He pointed out that Kanimozhi was born to Karunanidhi in Rajathi Ammal, his “unofficial” third wife. “Karunanidhi had married Padmavathi and after her untimely demise, he married Dayalu Ammal. Alagiri, Stalin, Tamil Arasu and Selvi are the children born to Karunanidhi in Dayalu Ammal. Around 1966 the DMK leader had begun courting Rajathi Ammal who became pregnant and delivered Kanimozhi,” said the observer. As per Indian laws, Karunanidh could not have two wives at a time but the DMK patriarch was the “hero” of many real love dramas in Tamil Nadu.
When an MlA had asked Karunanidhi in the legislative assembly what was the kind of relation between the latter and Rajathi Ammal, he had replied:”Rajathi is the mother of my daughter Kanimozhi.” After getting acquitted in the 2G Spectrum Case, Kanimozhi has started staking her claims for the party leadership. Stalin through his reactions to Raja’s comment has succeeded in sending home the fact that he is the real leader of the DMK while Kanimozhi is an illegitimate child. Rajathi Ammal too had demanded that her daughter should be given an important post in the party.
While Kanimozhi chose not to react to Raja’s comment, it may be noted that it was close associates of Stalin who led the tirade against the BJP leader. Stalin described Raja as a mean minded person. Former union minister P Chidambaram who is close to Karunanidhi said that there was no such thing as illegitimate child. “All children are perfectly legitimate,” said the Congress strongman from Tamil Nadu.
Raja has emerged as an enfant terrible for the DMK and the lefts in the State with his razor sharp reactions on various issues and this has put the BJP leadership in the defensive. But this time, he had the last laugh as the DMK was forced to reveal the chinks in its armour.