Why DMK stands for Dejected Muthuvel Karunanidhi

Lately, it is Her Loyal Opposition in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. With a dejected Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) staying away from the proceedings of the assembly, the Jayalalithaa-led All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government had a free run during its first budget session which ended on Wednesday. Though the state witnessed many turmoils including a police firing at Paramakudi in Ramanathapuram which claimed six lives, the DMK was nowhere to be seen in the state assembly to corner the government.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the party president, does not come to the house on some flimsy grounds. MK Stalin, the heir apparent, was on foreign tour. When Speaker D Jayakumar enterED the House, the DMK members stood up silently, wishing the speaker with folded hands and walked out of the House.

Vijayakant of the DMDK, the official opposition leader comes to the House very rarely. The DMDK, CPI(M) and CPI are the allies of Jayalalithaa. The DMK is upset over the speaker’s refusal to allocate the party MLAs a special block inside the House so that they could sit together. “This is no reason for staying away from the House. In fact by boycotting the session, these MLAs are doing gross injustice to the people who elected them. There were many issues on which the 23 MLAs of the DMK could have put the government in a tight spot,” said Vijayadharini, a Congress MLA, told DNA.

She said that the Congress and other parties could make the government agree for a judicial probe into the Paramakudi firing. “The chief minister announced in the House that the probe will be done by a RDO. But we exerted pressure and she set up an inquiry commission under a retired high court judge. We also make use of the opportunities we get to inform the government that what is happening in the districts which miss the attention of the authorities,” she said.

When the government ordered the postponement of the Unified School Syllabus scheme launched by the then DMK regime, all that Karunanidhi did was to write an editorial in his party mouthpiece Murasoli and issue some statements. It was her own alliance partners who criticised Jayalalithaa over the issue. The government was made to fall in line only through a Supreme Court directive.

Senior political analysts like BR Haran are of the view that it is time for Karunanidhi, confined to a wheel-chair,  to retire and entrust the leadership either to Stalin or MK Alagiri. “Karunanidhi is 89 and is past his prime. His write-ups and comments about the topical issues lack coherence and clarity. Many times his views and comments remind me of the story of the fox and sour grapes,” said Haran. 

The DMK which stands for Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has become Disappointed Muthuvel Karunanidhi, said another veteran commentator who did not want to be named.