Ramanathapuram, April 30: Sonia Gandhi — guardian deity of the Thevars?
Oops! That’s what a twist of the tongue, however slight, can do.
As one enters Manamadurai, staring at every passerby is the fierce-looking and mustachioed Sri Sonaiya Swamy — the Oor Kaaval Deivam (village guardian deity) to residents.
In reality, the phonetic gulf between Sonaiya and Sonia seems quite pronounced in this Thevar heartland to be ignored. So despite the strong anti-incumbency sentiment that ADMK chief Jayalalithaa is facing, her whirlwind tour of the party’s traditional strongholds has set off a wave.
With long-time friend Sassikala seated behind, Jayalalithaa has plunged into her campaign.
In the temple city of Madurai, from where Amma drove 130 km to Ramanathapuram, people did not seem too enthusiastic. But the moment her convoy — her Tempo Traveller glowing under the floodlights fixed on top — reached the mix of scattered coconut groves and parched land of the villages in Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts, people surged forward in hundreds.
In the Tiruchendur Lok Sabha constituency, the ADMK has fielded T. Damodharan against the DMK’s V. Radhika Selvi, the widow of the slain don Venkatesa Panniyar.
Panniyar was killed in a police encounter in Chennai some months ago, which enraged the Nadars, a powerful Other Backward Classes community like the Thevars.
Jayalalithaa knows she has to get the support of both these communities, besides shoring up the party’s traditional Dalit support base, to win seats in the south, which accounts for 12 of Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats.
For logistical reasons, Madurai is the arterial point in the roadmap. After lunch and a little rest, Jayalalithaa sets off on her day’s electioneering from Pandiyan hotel. It is usually around 3.30. The sun is still high, but she has miles to go.
At every point where Jayalalithaa would stop to campaign for the ADMK-BJP combine, the crowds are treated to songs from popular MGR films till she arrives. Then, as her Tempo Traveller would screech to a halt, at least half-a-dozen women would greet her with poornakumbh (a silver pot with a coconut and mango leaves).
This time there is an addition: a small object shaped like two leaves (the party symbol) is fixed to the pot.
Despite the heat, at every point where Jayalalithaa stops, there are at least two women waiting to have their babies named by Amma.
The babies are held up — as though on a platter. Jayalalithaa fondles them, plants a kiss on their forehead and names them. But it is difficult to catch the names — reporters are not allowed anywhere near her vehicle.
In Madurai, Jayalalithaa has fielded the little-known A.K. Bose against CPM veteran P. Mohan and the irrepressible Subramanian Swamy, the Janata Party chief.
“There may be poverty and drought, but Amma’s policies, in firmly putting down the violent, terrorist and secessionist elements, are 100 per cent correct,” cries Rama Ramachandra, an ardent supporter in Madurai. Ramachandra is the state president of the All India United Front For Repatriates from Sri Lanka and Burma.
Amma’s words ring out clear. She lashes out at Sonia’s “sinuous ambitions” to the prime ministerial “gaddi”, while asserting only an “experienced and patriotic Indian” like A.B. Vajpayee should lead India, “a land of 100 crore people”.
“Sonia Gandhi has even forgotten her husband Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination for the sake of power, in aligning with parties like the DMK, indicted by the Jain Commission,” she thunders. “Does Sonia have pati bhakti (devotion to husband)?
“Will you teach this opportunistic and unprincipled alliance cobbled up by (DMK chief M.) Karunanidhi a fitting lesson in the election?”
“Yes,” comes the resounding response at most places.
She also questions Karunanidhi’s “contributions to Tamils all over the world”, dubs PMK leader S. Ramadoss a “political clown” and takes a swipe at the Left parties for “welcoming something (like foreign capital) in Calcutta, but denouncing it in Chennai”.
Women and youths swarm around her vehicle in Thirubhuvanam, Manamaudrai, Parthibanur, Paramakudi and Satharkudi. Amma smiles as she sees people coming towards her.
“The water scarcity is terrible. We buy water daily from private parties at Rs 1.50 a pot and agriculture has hit an all-time low,” says Balamurugan, a distressed farmer near Paramakudi, who had come from his interior hamlet to listen to Amma’s speech. “But still, our country’s security can be ensured only if we vote for Jayalalithaa and Vajpayee becomes Prime Minister.”
If that was any indication of the mood in these caste-sensitive southern tracts, people came out of their homes at several places even late in the night as Jayalalithaa was returning from Ramanathapuram to Madurai after completing the day’s campaigning. They wanted to have a glimpse of Amma and wave at her.
