Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi has been showing increasing displeasure with the DMK for quite a while now. The cracks in the alliance seem to be becoming more and more visible as the days pass.
Recently, an interview between Aadhav Arjuna, Deputy General Secretary of the VCK, and Thanthi TV seemed to endorse these fissures even more. Responding to the question about Thirumavalavan’s recent ‘power-sharing’ comment, he said, “The cadre wanting to address issues faced by the community suggested that it would be nice if Thirumavalavan could become the Chief Minister or have a Cabinet position.”
Aadhav Arjuna added, “In 46 constituencies, there are not many good schemes announced by the government for Dalits. They are in extreme poverty, there are education-related issues, and no one could enter the professional education system. Everyone knows about it but we cannot turn a blind eye to it because we are not in power – VCK or Dalits.”
The anchor said VCK had to contest independently and not piggyback on some other party’s vote bank to achieve it. Arjuna said, “If you take a look at DMK’s history, Anna won in 1967 for several reasons, such as creating a campaign against central government policies like the Hindi language policy. It is believed that MGR had a role to play in such matters. The main reason for this was Rajaji’s Swatantra party. DMK opposed Rajaji their whole life, but they allied with the same Rajaji, winning 18 MLA seats. Anna also wins with a majority – can you call this statecraft or election politics?”
To this, the anchor questioned, “But Rajaji did not ask for a share in power“. Arjuna replied, “The situation did not arise. We should learn about that from Kalaignar. In 2004, he created a big alliance and won 40/40 seats. It is a coalition in the centre and their government in the state. At that time, there was a need for 272 MPs to stay in power, so DMK was a part of this alliance and won 40 seats. DMK, on its own, won only 16 seats. This is about 6% on a national level. But for this, they got 8 minister posts – 4 cabinet ministers. So if DMK can do it, why do we think it is wrong if some other party does it? And if Thirumavalavan speaks about this in public, why is it wrong? He has been in politics for 40 years, a PhD holder, he is a Periyarist, Ambedkarite, well-read, he can read without any form of paper in hand for 2 hours but if he wants to come to power, everyone belittles him and talks him down.”
Subsequently, the anchor threw a hypothetical question and said if VCK, which had only a 2% vote share in the recently concluded LS polls, depended on a party such as ADMK or DMK, which has a 30% vote share, how was it right to ask for a share in power. Arjuna reversed the question, put it back to the anchor, and said, “Let me reverse this to you: if your party has a 30% vote share, why don’t you contest the polls by yourself and win? Why do you need 2% and 6% to add to that ‘big’30% vote share? Because there is an alliance, we are contesting only two seats. You can contest alone. In 2014, Madam Jayalalithaa contested alone and did not speak to anyone. Like that, you can contest all 234 constituencies alone. Both DMK and VCK need each other. If there were no alliance, DMK would not have won. Take ADMK for example. In 2021, ADMK had a 33% vote share. I was a part of the campaign. Dalit and minority votes dropped because it allied with the BJP.”
Aadhav Arjuna further said, “This is like Maamannan film, which allows people to understand the point easily. My leader (Thirumavalavan) is taking things slowly. But the cadre are eager to see their leader in power, they wonder why he has to slog so much more. Someone who was in the film industry yesterday wants to become the Chief Minister, someone who came to politics yesterday is going to become the Deputy CM they say, so why is my leader still not one? VCK’s ground-level cadres have this sentiment and I am addressing that. What is wrong with having a share in power or having a Dalit CM? Why are you stressing on Dalit CM? Just call it Chief Minister. We have to create a Chief Minister for the public.”
He further said, “What can VCK’s principles be? Should it be what DMK thinks and acts upon? Or should we focus on how to improve the party and make it grow, focus on how to make VCK members minister? We want to focus on making our leader the Dy CM or Chief Minister. What DMK think about that, will DMK suffer because of that, or what ADMK or other parties will think is not our cadres’ job?”
He continued, “When a party has grown, why should we ask for seats in the alliance? There is no big party here. If they are a big party, they must contest alone in all 234 constituencies. We will come together, form an alliance based on an agenda, and decide how governance should be. When policies are not right in governments, we must raise questions. We recently voiced out against the Murugan Conference. Why did we do it? As per DMK’s ideology, you conduct a Periyar Conference and talk about his equality principles, but instead of doing that, we were the first ones to question why they conducted the Murugan Conference. You cannot say that we raised this question because of our comment on share in power.
Even today, when Vijay has entered politics, people speak about him becoming CM but no one talks the same of Thirumavalavan. Why is everyone looking at him with a casteist mindset?”
Regarding VCK being a 2.5% vote bank, Aadhav Arjuna said, “In the north constituencies in TN, without VCK’s vote bank, DMK cannot win. You can check statistics for yourself. We have that much of an influence. If DMK has to win 50 out of 58 constituencies in north TN, they can win in the delta region, in the south it is 50-50, in the west it is difficult, only then they can cross 120. Since 1996, they have never formed a majority government. The victory in the northern constituencies is important for the DMK and VCK has a 60% share in it. 100% votes from Dalits and OBCs will vote for VCK. Everyone fights for the elections and wins but the victory is enjoyed only by DMK.”
Notably, Aadhav Arjuna is the son-in-law of ‘Lottery King Santiago Martin. Arjuna, who recently became the president of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), surprised many with his switch to VCK. He was previously associated with a group led by Sabareesan, the son-in-law of Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin.
In this interview, too, Arjuna insisted that he had nothing to do with his father-in-law’s business and had not inherited any wealth from Martin. He claims to be a self-made entrepreneur. He joined VCK during their ‘Vellum Sananayagam’ conference in Trichy, which saw large crowds and praise from party leader Thol. Thirumavalavan thanked Arjuna for supporting the event.
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