DMK chief M Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa fought for statues of their favourite leaders to be installed in Parliament.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa fought for statues of their favourite leaders to be installed in the Parliament House precincts; both have got their way.
CHENNAI: Dravidian archrivals M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa have taken one of their fights beyond the state borders and right into Parliament complex in Delhi. And, what is more, both of them have won!
After trying to push each other down, Karunanidhi has won in getting clearance for the installation of the statue of his nephew and former Union minister Murasoli Maran, while Jayalalithaa has managed to get one MGR statue installed. Both the statues are to be installed in Parliament house next month. For a state with a fixation with statues, it is some achievement for Tamil Nadu.
Though Karunanidhi cannot publicly understate the contributions of MGR, whose noon-meal scheme in schools is considered one of the biggest leaps in social welfare in the country, the Tamil Nadu chief minister pushed with all might for the installation of the Maran statue first. However, such is the stature of the late MGR that when Jayalalithaa accused Karunanidhi of delaying the installation of the MGR statue, Karuananidhi threatened to sue her.
With his DMK’s strong presence in the corridors of power in Delhi, Karunanidhi could get clearance for the Maran statue, but not before Jayalalithaa made an attempt to thwart it. Karunanidhi blackmailed the UPA government to get the Maran statue installed, says Jayalalithaa. The statues committee of the Lok Sabha had observed that Maran’s contribution was not significant enough (to justify a statue in the Parliament complex), but Karunanidhi arm-twisted his way.
Though nowhere close to power in the state or the Centre, Jayalalithaa employed some smart contacts to get her mentor’s statue installed.
While Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was sympathetic towards the MGR statue, the presence of TDP leader Yerran Naidu (chairman) and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav (member) — both her co-dreamers of a third front — in the statues committee helped the AIADMK Amma.
It is one of the crude ironies of Tamil Nadu that political parties and caste groups vie with each other over statues though the pathways of Dravidian politics are laid by idol-demolition.
A statue of Periyar EV Ramasamy, the champion of desecration of statues of gods, installed near a temple is one of the latest controversies in a land where Dalits and upper caste Hindus spill blood over statues of Ambedkar and Muthuramalinga Thevar.
Towering glory
On December 5, two 9-feet bronze statues were unveiled, that of Vithalbhai Patel, first elected president of the Central Legislative Assembly donated by Lok Sabha Secretariat and late Indrajit Gupta, former union home minister and a Communist Party of India veteran were unveiled
On December 7, former Tamil Nadu chief minister MGR’s statue will be unveiled. ADMK chief Jayalalithaa, behind the move, will attend the function
On December 8, former industries minister Murasoli Maran’s statue will be installed. Chief minister M. Karunanidhi is flying down to Delhi to attend the unveiling function
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