Of late, a foul-mouthed leader of the supposedly ‘rationalist’ party DMK, has been making unparliamentary remarks that are unbecoming of a person in public life. His statements, which make explicit the kind of party DMK is, have lowered political discourse and breached all norms of personal and political dignity.
I had no choice but to listen to these remarks he had made in the recent press meets considering that truth needs to be told to the people and the DMK leader in question be called out for what he is – an uncouth, half-baked, and a man accused of corruption.
Of course, whatever arguments I place here will maintain the civility and standards of public discourse thanks to the upbringing of my parents, my party, and our leader Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.
When I and my party cadres were discussing what ‘A’ in ‘A.Raja’ stands for, we came up with these adjectives in Tamil. ‘Anaagareegam’, meaning ‘uncivilized’ or ‘uncouth’. Then we came up with the word ‘Aravaekaadu’ which means ‘half-baked’, given that the man flaunts around with his half-baked knowledge of the law. But the best-suited adjective turned out to be ‘Accused’. Till today, the DMK leader is an accused in the 2G spectrum scam.
Mr. ‘Accused’ Raja should be watchful of his words when he is criticizing someone. He had mentioned that our Hon’ble Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami is not a leader elected by the people and went on to narrate a sequence of events. I would like to remind ‘Accused’ Raja that people remember very well who fell at the feet of whom to bury your leader Kalaignar Karunanidhi at the Marina Beach.
But I would like to state something here that not many people know. When burial at Marina Beach was refused to Kalaignar Karunanidhi due to the Coastal Regulation Zone rules and the custom of laying rest to peace only those leaders who died when they were in office, the DMK petitioned the court that they wanted a land ‘next’ to the Anna Samadhi. However, after it was pointed out that asking for a land ‘next’ to the Anna Samadhi would not be possible due to CRZ rules, the DMK on its side had changed the word ‘next’ to ‘within’ to evade CRZ rules. But it was our Hon’ble Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who refrained from appealing against this blatant disregard for rule of law on humanitarian grounds.
This was however portrayed by the DMK as if the party and its chief M.K. Stalin had fought a long drawn court battle and secured a historic victory. What will go down in history is this – that the DMK is a spineless party where the leaders lacked the spine to speak the truth.
Okay. Let me get to the point now. You had challenged us to either come to Anna Arivalayam or call you to the Secretariat for an open debate. Sorry to let you know that we do not wish to enter a place as unholy as the Anna Arivalayam, a den of corrupt wolves. You haven’t achieved anything significant in your public life for our Hon’ble Chief Minister to call you to the Secretariat and waste his precious time on you. Also, calling you to the Secretariat would not only desecrate the sanctity of the place but would also mean an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu. So, with all humility, I kindly request you to suggest some other place for the debate.
Meanwhile, allow me the liberty to throw 3 challenges at you Mr. Accused Raja.
1) You were the Minister of Communications and Information Technology during the UPA regime where your party was in alliance with the Congress. Your party is in alliance with them even today. It has been more than 6.5 years since Dr. Manmohan Singh left office. However, the then Prime Minister till today has not even issued a single statement in support of you saying that your Ministry did not indulge in corrupt practices in spectrum allocation. I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja, to get a clean chit from Dr. Manmohan Singh that will help you save face when you go making statements that you never indulged in corruption.
2) Mr. Vaiko, who is in alliance with you today had back then alleged that huge amounts of cash swindled through 2G corruption changed hands inside Arivalayam. He had also alleged that Sadiq Batcha’s death was unnatural. I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja to make Mr. Vaiko come to Arivalayam and give a press meet stating that he had wrongly passed those accusations and that he would like to apologize for the same.
3) I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja, to make Sadiq Batcha’s widowed wife to give a press meet stating that her husband died a natural death.
Take a week, a month, or even a year, but fulfill these 3 challenges Mr. Accused Raja before giving a clean chit to yourself.
In 2007, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran had written a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asking for limiting the number of operators in the telecom sector. For what? Have you given any explanation when you were the Minister?
K TV, which was started to curtail the growing influence of Maran Brothers (Kalanithi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran) in the party and in the businesses controlled by the party, has its headquarters registered in the address of Anna Arivalayam. An official channel run by a political party itself has many legal formalities to be done. Here, a private company running K TV is registered at the address of the DMK’s headquarters. It is to pave way for the starting of K TV that you had breached the procedures while spectrum auctioning. Also, what pushed K TV to get ₹200 crores as funds? There seem to be no company records for that and all these questions remain unanswered.
Having a record of committing such serious frauds, one has to appreciate the audacity with which you speak about corruption.
Mr. Accused Raja, it is easy to hit below the belt and make comments in bad taste. I can also do the same to you but I can’t and won’t do that because this isn’t a competition on crassness.
Just because the people in your party clap for whatever filth that comes out of your mouth, don’t think that you can get away with it. Like me, scores of AIADMK cadres are awaiting the opportunity to debate with you and let the people know about the truth.
But if you want our Hon’ble CM to come for a debate with you, please raise your standards before he can consider the request, Mr. Accused Raja.
(Views expressed here are the author’s own)
An open letter (challenge) to DMK MP ‘Accused’ Raja
Of late, a foul-mouthed leader of the supposedly ‘rationalist’ party DMK, has been making unparliamentary remarks that are unbecoming of a person in public life. His statements, which make explicit the kind of party DMK is, have lowered political discourse and breached all norms of personal and political dignity.
I had no choice but to listen to these remarks he had made in the recent press meets considering that truth needs to be told to the people and the DMK leader in question be called out for what he is – an uncouth, half-baked, and a man accused of corruption.
Of course, whatever arguments I place here will maintain the civility and standards of public discourse thanks to the upbringing of my parents, my party, and our leader Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.
When I and my party cadres were discussing what ‘A’ in ‘A.Raja’ stands for, we came up with these adjectives in Tamil. ‘Anaagareegam’, meaning ‘uncivilized’ or ‘uncouth’. Then we came up with the word ‘Aravaekaadu’ which means ‘half-baked’, given that the man flaunts around with his half-baked knowledge of the law. But the best-suited adjective turned out to be ‘Accused’. Till today, the DMK leader is an accused in the 2G spectrum scam.
Mr. ‘Accused’ Raja should be watchful of his words when he is criticizing someone. He had mentioned that our Hon’ble Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami is not a leader elected by the people and went on to narrate a sequence of events. I would like to remind ‘Accused’ Raja that people remember very well who fell at the feet of whom to bury your leader Kalaignar Karunanidhi at the Marina Beach.
But I would like to state something here that not many people know. When burial at Marina Beach was refused to Kalaignar Karunanidhi due to the Coastal Regulation Zone rules and the custom of laying rest to peace only those leaders who died when they were in office, the DMK petitioned the court that they wanted a land ‘next’ to the Anna Samadhi. However, after it was pointed out that asking for a land ‘next’ to the Anna Samadhi would not be possible due to CRZ rules, the DMK on its side had changed the word ‘next’ to ‘within’ to evade CRZ rules. But it was our Hon’ble Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who refrained from appealing against this blatant disregard for rule of law on humanitarian grounds.
This was however portrayed by the DMK as if the party and its chief M.K. Stalin had fought a long drawn court battle and secured a historic victory. What will go down in history is this – that the DMK is a spineless party where the leaders lacked the spine to speak the truth.
Okay. Let me get to the point now. You had challenged us to either come to Anna Arivalayam or call you to the Secretariat for an open debate. Sorry to let you know that we do not wish to enter a place as unholy as the Anna Arivalayam, a den of corrupt wolves. You haven’t achieved anything significant in your public life for our Hon’ble Chief Minister to call you to the Secretariat and waste his precious time on you. Also, calling you to the Secretariat would not only desecrate the sanctity of the place but would also mean an insult to the people of Tamil Nadu. So, with all humility, I kindly request you to suggest some other place for the debate.
Meanwhile, allow me the liberty to throw 3 challenges at you Mr. Accused Raja.
1) You were the Minister of Communications and Information Technology during the UPA regime where your party was in alliance with the Congress. Your party is in alliance with them even today. It has been more than 6.5 years since Dr. Manmohan Singh left office. However, the then Prime Minister till today has not even issued a single statement in support of you saying that your Ministry did not indulge in corrupt practices in spectrum allocation. I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja, to get a clean chit from Dr. Manmohan Singh that will help you save face when you go making statements that you never indulged in corruption.
2) Mr. Vaiko, who is in alliance with you today had back then alleged that huge amounts of cash swindled through 2G corruption changed hands inside Arivalayam. He had also alleged that Sadiq Batcha’s death was unnatural. I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja to make Mr. Vaiko come to Arivalayam and give a press meet stating that he had wrongly passed those accusations and that he would like to apologize for the same.
3) I challenge you Mr. Accused Raja, to make Sadiq Batcha’s widowed wife to give a press meet stating that her husband died a natural death.
Take a week, a month, or even a year, but fulfill these 3 challenges Mr. Accused Raja before giving a clean chit to yourself.
In 2007, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran had written a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asking for limiting the number of operators in the telecom sector. For what? Have you given any explanation when you were the Minister?
K TV, which was started to curtail the growing influence of Maran Brothers (Kalanithi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran) in the party and in the businesses controlled by the party, has its headquarters registered in the address of Anna Arivalayam. An official channel run by a political party itself has many legal formalities to be done. Here, a private company running K TV is registered at the address of the DMK’s headquarters. It is to pave way for the starting of K TV that you had breached the procedures while spectrum auctioning. Also, what pushed K TV to get ₹200 crores as funds? There seem to be no company records for that and all these questions remain unanswered.
Having a record of committing such serious frauds, one has to appreciate the audacity with which you speak about corruption.
Mr. Accused Raja, it is easy to hit below the belt and make comments in bad taste. I can also do the same to you but I can’t and won’t do that because this isn’t a competition on crassness.
Just because the people in your party clap for whatever filth that comes out of your mouth, don’t think that you can get away with it. Like me, scores of AIADMK cadres are awaiting the opportunity to debate with you and let the people know about the truth.
But if you want our Hon’ble CM to come for a debate with you, please raise your standards before he can consider the request, Mr. Accused Raja.
(Views expressed here are the author’s own)