Last Word
MARUKOTTAI: The wheels of democracy move in strange ways. Just ask Irulappa. The 55-year-old fisherman from Marukottai village in Karnataka is wooed by politicians from Tamil Nadu to cast his vote in the May 8 assembly polls.
Before you get ideas, Irulappa is not being asked to cast a bogus vote in Tamil Nadu. He is being wooed for his legitimate vote. Irulappa is among the 500-odd villagers in this tribal hamlet who hold valid election identity cards that give them the right to vote in both the states. In the 2004 assembly polls in Karnataka, Irulappa had gone to vote at a booth in Gopinatham, the birthplace of the slain forest brigand Veerappan.
The seat was won by Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Parimala Nagappa, widow of former minister H Nagappa who was killed by Veerappan after being taken hostage. Irulappa moved to Marukottai three decades ago from Ootamalai in Pennagaram constituency of Tamil Nadu. A huge lake that stores water from Cauvery River and Hogenakkal falls, a picnic spot, divides Marukottai with Ootamalai. But he still retains his name in the electoral list in his birthplace, where Veerappan’s widow Muthulakshmi is contesting as an independent. “The candidates have not come, but their supporters have visited us,” Irulappa said.
Bereft of any development in the region due to the nearly two-decade long hunt for the forest brigand, the villagers have just seen a road metalled to their hamlet. The largely tribal region, which has a mix of Kannada, Telugu and Tamil speaking population, is dominated by Vanniyars, the caste of Veerappan.
“This year is the first time in three elections that politicians are campaigning freely. Earlier the fear of Veerappan was keeping them away,” Kuppuraj, a boatman said. Politicians blame villagers for dual voting rights. PMK leader C Sivalingam said the fear of eviction from Karnataka had made villagers have residences in Tamil Nadu. The election observer for Pennagaram S N Kaarle said he was unaware of such dual voting rights.
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