South Compass | Tamil Nadu: Where the talk is all about walk(s)

In this, she has stolen a march – literally – on Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai, who earlier announced a state-wide walk beginning this April. And he wasn’t the only one taken by surprise, say sources; so were other party colleagues. Annamalai, a newcomer elevated to the post, who has been trying to make himself heard amid the Tamil Nadu cacophony by constantly making noises, would be hoping to leave an impression with the padyatra.

While his predecessor L Murugan too attempted a yatra, covering several temples along the way, three years ago, it is remembered more for the convoy of SUVs he travelled in.

If his one eye is on Srinivasan’s march, Annamalai would have another trained on actress-turned-politician Gayathri Raghuram’s. She was recently expelled from the BJP and alleged that there was no security for women in the party. Her yatra is a counter Annamalai’s, and begins the same day as his, with the slogan “women’s safety and protection”.

BJP ally Anbumani Ramadoss, the leader of the PMK, has also lined up a padyatra — “for the protection of the Noyyal river”. His previous walks have lasted a few days at most. While the younger Ramadoss bats for Noyyal, the senior, PMK founder S Ramadoss, has announced a march for “Tamil protection”, though given his age (90), that might not be on foot.

Also 90, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) chief K Veeramani has announced a state-wide march on vehicles to “propagate the Dravida model” and for “the protection of social justice”. In a column in the DMK mouthpiece, Chief Minister M K Stalin wished the veteran well and asked him to be “cautious and thoughtful about (his) health too”.

CPI(M) Madurai MP Su Venkatesan is another leader set to join the yatra brigade, his march being for “speedy execution of the Madurai AIIMS project”.

While Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari, was the latest example of a successful march in the state, Tamil Nadu is no stranger to one. Nor are the neighbouring states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.

Coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March in 1930, C Rajagopalachari or Rajaji had taken out a yatra, walking 240 km from Trichy to Vedaranyam. Many were arrested, including him.

Another significant march in Tamil Nadu politics was led by the late DMK leader and founder M Karunanidhi, against then CM M G Ramachandran, or MGR. Dubbed “Needhi kettu nedumpayanam (Long March for Justice)”, it saw Karunanidhi walk 200 km, from Madurai to Tiruchendur, in 1982, demanding a probe into the suspicious death of a Tiruchendur temple official and a probe into alleged fraud in temple accounts.

While raising Karunanidhi’s profile against the popular MGR, a film star turned politician, the yatra had precipitated a chain reaction, including the “leak” of a government commission report into the controversy that differed with the official government position.

In 1983, Tamil Nadu saw rebel Congress leader Chandra Shekhar set off on his Bharat Yadra, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. If Chandra Shekhar would consequently become prime minister – even if briefly – others who joined him in the state, Vazhappadi K Ramamurthy and R Dhanushkodi Adithan, also gained politically.

Other prominent figures such as veteran Congress leader Kumari Ananathan and fiery orator and Tamil nationalist Vaiko too are avid walkers, with Vaiko taking out more than one yatra across the length of the state for a total ban on alcohol. One became especially famous when Vaiko duped officials to enter Chennai city without permission. Commissioner-level officers were among those removed by then CM Jayalalithaa as by the time the MDMK leader was caught, he had reached very near the high-security Secretariat area.

In his autobiography The Story of My Life, Tamil scholar U A Swaminatha Iyer describes such yatras going back to a time when transport was scarce. He talks about mutt heads such as Dharmapuram Adheenam preferring to walk from Mayavaram to Madurai Meenakshi temple despite the rail network starting by then, and community heads like the Kanchi Mahaperiyava and Chandrasekharendra Saraswati also shunning vehicles. A Vaishnavite adheenam leader in Tamil Nadu would travel in a palanquin, mounted on the back of a moving lorry.

What explains the lasting appeal of a march, attracting leaders across continents such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, and as diverse as Karunanidhi and Rahul Gandhi? Perhaps now, more than ever, there is little occasion besides this for them to come face to face with the people, in their own surroundings.