The Hindu : Shifting positions - has the realignment begun?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 20, 2002

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Shifting positions - has the realignment begun?

By V.Jayanth

CHENNAI Dec. 19. A gradual repositioning of the lead players in Tamil Nadu's political scenario has perhaps begun. As the AIADMK makes its measured moves towards the BJP and in favour of the Hindu majority, its arch-rival, DMK, is straining every nerve to reach out to the `secular platform'.

At its two-day general council meeting, which concluded here on Wednesday, the ruling party appealed to its Government to register a criminal case against the DMK chief, M. Karunanidhi, for ``hurting Hindu feelings''. The AIADMK has apparently decided to walk that extra mile for identifying itself with the majority community, even as the DMK is trying to ``recapture'' the secular platform it lost when it aligned with the BJP in the 1999 elections.

As if to confirm the well-planned moves, the AIADMK leader and Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, congratulated the Gujarat Chief Minister-designate, Narendra Modi, on overcoming barriers and recording a landslide victory in the Assembly elections.

And Mr. Karunanidhi, just yesterday, did not mince words decrying the pronouncements by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader, Praveen Togadia. (The VHP general secretary had said Muslims in this country should be granted only the rights Hindus enjoyed in Pakistan and that anyone who opposed Hindutva should be punished.)

For those familiar with the State politics and the way the two Dravidian parties operate, there will have to be moves and counter-moves for a clear polarisation in the polity. If the AIADMK is with the BJP, the DMK must be in the opposite camp and vice versa. In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, the AIADMK went with the BJP, but for the 1999 elections, it was replaced by the DMK. This followed the AIADMK's desertion of the National Democratic Alliance and the fall of the previous Vajpayee regime. The DMK was swift in cementing ties with the BJP, though it was far from ideologically comfortable with the party agenda.

Though the AIADMK has not spoken of any alliance or understanding with the BJP as yet, it is obvious the ruling party has jettisoned the so-called secular platform, which it led in the 2001 Assembly elections. The anti-conversion law and the way the AIADMK has been adapting and adopting the BJP agenda has alienated minority communities.

But it has attracted not just the BJP and its front organisations, but also endeared itself to the majority.

It is in this context that the AIADMK general council decided to take on Mr. Karunanidhi for his remarks on Hindus. However much the DMK leader tries to explain with ``reference to the context'', it cannot be denied that the BJP and its front organisations have taken the campaign to every doorstep to paint him `anti-Hindu'.

As such, the DMK finds it even more convenient to champion secularism and speak up for the minorities.

But the problem seems to be the `reluctance' on the part of the Left parties and the Congress to do business with the DMK, until it abandons the BJP and takes a clear stand on `burning issues' such as the `Hindutva agenda'.

The DMK's approach, that its being part of the NDA at the Centre should not preclude the party joining an anti-AIADMK front in the State, has no takers.

The Congress and the communist parties do not want to make such a distinction, because the BJP is their first and last foe and must be fought tooth and nail.

While the AIADMK retains the option of either aligning with the BJP or just keeping its door by going it alone, the DMK will have to choose between exiting from the NDA and walking a lonely path in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps the string of Assembly elections in 2003 will help both the rivals make up their minds, in time for the Lok Sabha poll.

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