Adding to the woes like corruption, price rise and kangaroo courts, the state was also reeling under severe power shortage.
Corruption, mis-governance and family feuds were what lead to the downfall of Muthuvel Karunanidhi and his DMK. “The Karunanidhi family did not leave untouched a single area with money making potential. This led to big resentment among the people including hardcore DMK loyalists,” said M R Venkatesh, a leading economist, who had forecast a landslide victory for Jayalalitha months before the Election Commission declared the poll schedule.
“A trip to interior Tamil Nadu was sufficient to understand the intensity of unhappiness and resentment among the people,” he said. Jayalalithaa had been voicing concern over the failure of the law and order in the state since 2006.
“The serving officers, both in police and revenue departments, were afraid to air their views in the open. But the sad thing is that law and order in Tamil Nadu was really disturbing,” said R Natarajan, who retired as additional director general of police last month.
“Land grabbing was the order of the day. When the members of the first family grab land by force, do you think other leaders in the party will sit idle? The cascading effect was felt all over the state, with DMK leaders vying with one another to capture as much land as possible,” said Natarajan, who joined the Forum For Free and Fair Elections after he retired from the IPS. Natarajan was highly critical of Alagiri. “It was a reign of terror in Madurai. He was a law unto himself,” he said.
Nanjil Kumaran , former Chennai city police commissioner, pointed to the lavish display of wealth even by local DMK leaders. “A series of unpleasant instances, unheard and unseen in the past, have taken place in Tamil Nadu during the last five years. It is all because of the arrogance of power and those people are paying for it,” said Kumaran.
R V Giri, general secretary, Consortium of Indian Farmers Association, said the farming community in the state, which constitutes nearly 58% of the electorate voted against the DMK.
“What have they done for us? Our pleas for remunerative prices for rice and sugar fell on deaf ears. Prices of essential commodities shot up because many farmers stopped agricultural operations. This is a vote against the state and central governments. The Union government did not touch the M S Swaminathan Commission Report on revamping Indian agriculture, “he said.
Adding to the woes like corruption, price rise and kangaroo courts, the state was also reeling under severe power shortage. Jayalalithaa’s immediate concerns after taking over would be include mobilizing 3500 MW power and to bring confidence back in the minds of the people.
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