The loneliness of Karunanidhi

A dashing young Karunanidhi welcomes you to Trichy. The dominant recurring image on the line-up of posters all the way to the DMK rally....

A dashing young Karunanidhi welcomes you to Trichy. The dominant recurring image on the line-up of posters all the way to the DMK rally is of the Dravidian,30-something,at his vintage best playwright,screenwriter,public speaker,poet and uncanny politician. A receding memory for the greying Tamil voters and no memory at all for the younger.

Last seen on TV,the biggest surviving star of Indias regional politics was amidst an extended family and air coolers,prostate at Marina Beach on a tame Gandhian fast for his brother Tamils in Sri Lanka. Hardly counts in Dravidian dramaturgy which requires you to stand as tall as a Chennai statue and thunder into the heavens. When the man himself appears in flesh and blood before the Trichy crowd,it is no big help either. The only thing dramatic is the sudden manifestation of a station wagon on the slope beside the dais to rousing battle cries from the public address system. The sound effect doesnt prepare you for what follows. The leader is eased into a wheelchair and rolled centrestage. A sad audio-video mismatch.

DMK has a problem. Its long lost action hero MGR is entrenched in the rival legacy. Vaiko,once its very own speaking hero next only to Kalaignar himself and eminently outsourceable under the circumstances,has lent his voice to Jayalalithaa.

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At the evening May Day rally called to present the six Lok Sabha candidates from the Trichy region,on his orthopaedic chair tilted slightly up,the mentor who refused to mentor sits virtually alone gazing up at the darkening horizon. Sons Stalin and Azhagiri and daughter Kanimozhi are absent. Even the most important of the candidates,Mani Shankar Aiyar,has played truant.

On a campaign itinerary cut short for health reasons,the top man has to largely fend for himself. He gives sundry speakers full two hours to warm up the audience,which on its part seems only keen to catch the TV camera hovering above on a trolley to beam the event live on Kalaignar TV.

Segment after crowd segment gets into animated enthusiasm as the camera closes in on them and relaxes the moment the trolley turns away. Quality attention is reserved for the last speaker.

Just 40 minutes before closing time Karunanidhi begins his address. How much longer can a flashback last? The past is all one hears about. A clear contrast to Jayalalithaa,who makes a most businesslike appearance at every constituency with a long welfare wishlist. Perhaps there is nothing more the DMKs five-time Chief Minister can offer. If at all some voters are complaining,it is because the free colour TV set promised in the last Assembly poll hasnt reached them,nor PDS rice. There cant be too many places where promises and grievances are steadily getting upgraded from poll to poll. In any case how can he outmatch Jayas current offer of laptops? With Blackberrys?

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Karunanidhis mind,however,is clearly on the good old low-tech era of flag-waving,jail-going and play-staging politics. I am accused of doing drama even when I go on a fast risking my life. I take it as a compliment because thats how we built up this movement. Through plays on stage,not in real life as my detractors are prone to.

He recalls his early associates from Trichy with whom he fought for the Dravidian movement. Never mind against whom. Congress is now an ally,the very hand that must point out the rising sun (DMK symbol) in the sky. And that calls for some mandatory noises against the BJP.

Hear this: We alone can protect all. In the medical team accompanying me,there is a Christian,a Muslim and a Hindu Brahmin doctor. No one will grudge the veteran his medical support. One can only hope he doesnt insist on such secular spread at every primary health centre.