Senior BJP leader Omampuliyur Jayaraman in a lengthy Facebook post reminisced about the late DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan and the latter’s relationship with the Sangh, who had unfortunately passed away on June 10 due to COVID 19. Mr. Jayaraman mentioned about how Mr. Anbazhagan despite being poles apart politically, lent support to crucial causes at crucial times.
He narrates a peculiar incident that happened in the year 1993, when Swayamsevaks along with Muthukrishnan, Thangavelu, Pazhakadai Saravanan, Suresh were making arrangement for erecting pandal and installing a statue of Lord Ganesh for Vinayaka Chaturthi at Brindavan Street in T.Nagar. They had run into trouble with some DMK men of the area. But Jayaraman was not aware of the trouble. He had assigned the work to the local cadres and went about making preparations for the Visarjan day. For the first day procession, Jayaraman had arranged for notices with the names of DMK’s Kutty alias Karunanidhi, ADMK’s then block secretary and a Congress leader. Kutty was said to be a close friend of Jayaraman. When he was informed of the problem, Jayaraman with a few of his men went to see the DMK men. The men gave them tea and left without speaking to them. The next day, during Ganapathi Homam, the men came to make peace and asked the Swayamasevaks to not take their behaviour to heart and the Visarjan was conducted with great pomp and show with the presence of all parties cutting across castes.
Mr. Jayaraman mentioned that he had invited Mr. Anbazhagan to inaugurate the Visarjan procession at T. Nagar Venkatnarayana Road in 1994. He noted that many had told him that the latter wouldn’t come. However, to everybody’s surprise the then DMK secretary for the area had come and flagged off the procession with a saffron flag.
It is to be noted that Vinayaga Chaturthi procession were banned by the Karunanidhi Government in 1996. However, that did not stop Anbazhagan from coming to the pandals and praying.
Mr. Jayaraman mentioned that back when the DMK and BJP were in alliance they had worked together during 1999 Parliament elections, 2001 Assembly elections and local elections. He notes that on all occasions Mr. Anbazhagan had given due respect to the BJP and its cadres
He recalled how Anbazhagan lent his support to H.Raja’s call in the Assembly for restoring the Vengeeswarar temple tank when Mr. Raja was Karaikudi MLA.
Mr. Jayaraman in his facebook post mentions that although the alliance drifted apart, Mr Anbazhagan continued his associations with Hindu organizations. During the 2011 and 2016 Assembly election he had got the support of Hindu Munnani and was even open about it. Jayaraman added that he visited the Thiruvatteeswaranpettai Pillaiyar Temple atleast once every year.
In 2001, when Mr. Stalin while responding to the question about the next DMK President remarked that the DMK was not a ‘Sankara Mutt’, Mr. Jayaraman and Kutty Ganesan had gone to see Anbazhagan to convey their displeasure over Stalin’s comments. Mr. Anbazhagan had conveyed the same Mr. Stalin who then clarified in the press that the comment was not intentional.
In 2006, a petrol bomb was thrown at the Ayodhya Mandapam located in Arya Gowda Road in T.Nagar. Mr. Jayaraman had organized a protest to condemn the dastardly act in which Anbazhagan and his cadres had participated and expressed his solidarity. When a commercial complex near Usman Road was being tried by Muslims to convert into a Mosque in 2007, Anabazhagan along with a Bahujan Samaj Party cadre who had left the party came out and opposed the act.
Anabazhagan also shared great respect towards ‘Veera Thuravi’ Gopalan ji. He frequently inquired of his wellbeing whenever they met.
Mr. Jayaraman notes in his post that Anabazhagan had once asked Karunanidhi to come out with a special scheme for economically weak Brahmins to which Karunanidhi is said to have responded jovially saying “You, Kosi Mani and only 2 other people want to win the elections, is it?”
Jayaraman said that Anabzhagan was a simpleton and an accessible leader. He said how he always respected and never hurted sentiments for mere votes despite being a political adversary.