Karunanidhi for Prime Minister?

K. Chezhian

I could not believe what I read in the newspaper. I called the Weather Bureau and asked them if hell had frozen over? They said "no". I looked out the window to see if donkeys were flying. No. I dropped a book from the table. It fell to the floor; it did not go up. So gravity is still working. Everything seems to be normal. Hell has not frozen. Donkeys are not flying. Gravity is still operational. But what is it that I am reading in the newspaper?

"During his speech at Vizhupuram (Tamil Nadu) on February 16, 1998 Chief Minister Karunanidhi recited a Hindi poem about religious harmony", said the newspaper. Karunanidhi, protector of Tamils from Hindi imposition, whose political life started with him leaving school and joining an anti-Hindi protest some 50 years ago, reciting a Hindi poem at a public meeting? There is nothing wrong in a Tamil reciting a Hindi poem or speaking in Hindi on his or her own volition, without any compulsion from government. That is not the issue here. Karunanidhi had never spoken in Hindi at a public meeting, not even in the few speeches he had made in the north. So, why recite a Hindi poem now?

Until last year Karunanidhi never aspired to become the Prime Minister of India. In fact, until the fortunes of the Congress Party dimmed and there was no all-India party to replace it, he did not even think that his party, the DMK, could get a cabinet position in the central government. The waning political fortunes of the Congress Party, the ascendance of coalition governments and his party getting cabinet positions at the center are now history. Even then, he did not aspire to become the Prime Minister because he would not be acceptable to the Hindi belt; he, and the DMK as well, are closely linked with the anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu. Neither he nor anyone from DMK would be acceptable to Hindi-belt politicians.

So Karunanidhi wanted to soften his anti-Hindi image. It is within this context that one should look at him reciting a Hindi poem at the election meeting at Vizhupuram. A great Tamil scholar that he is (he truly is a great Tamil scholar), couldn't he find an appropriate Tamil poem about religious harmony? I can recite a dozen, off-hand. Karunanidhi did not recite that Hindi poem for the benefit of the Tamil audience at the meeting; most of them do not understand Hindi. It was intended for the Hindi politicians in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He wanted to show the Hindi-belt politicians that he is no longer the anti-Hindi stalwart that he once was. In the opinion of this writer he will never be offered the Prime Minister position in spite of these little tricks.

Chief Minister Karunanidhi should seriously consider if he wants to lose the monkey in his hands chasing after the wild donkey in the fields? He has the monkey (chief minister position) for quite sometime now. His party came to power in the state because of the 1965 anti-Hindi agitation. He chooses to stir anti-Hindi feelings in Tamil Nadu whenever he could make political mileage out of it, and that does help him and his party often. Now, in the hope of catching the donkey (Prime Minister position), if he were to soften his anti-Hindi stance, he may lose some of his political base. It may not be long before AIADMK, MDMK, PMK and other assorted political parties pointing out Karunanidhi's little Hindi-poem recitation in Vizhipuram to the people. Someone like MDMK's Vaiko or PMK's Ramadoss or even AIADMK's Jayalalitha could snatch the anti-Hindi mantle from Karunanidhi and run with it, even all the way to the Chief Minister's chair!

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