Just days after his official announcement about his political party, Superstar Rajinikanth has already put the DMK on the defence. Addressing the DMK cadres of Ramanathapuram as part of the “Tamizhagam Meetpom” virtual campaign, the DMK chief took an indirect dig at Rajinikanth on his birthday saying “Today.. there are some people who think they can defeat the DMK by citing spirituality”.
In a first, the DMK chief even quoted Swami Vivekananda to say that service to people is the greatest spiritual deed.
While it was expected that the DMK would up the ante against Rajinikanth closer to the elections, the DMK chief attacking Rajinikanth even before the man has started his party is a sign of a meltdown.
Rajinikanth the super star was keeping everyone guessing on whether he was going to enter politics or not. The DMK echo system as usual was hoping against hope that he doesn’t jump into the electoral fray. All its cronies and stooges are now shocked after Rajini declared that he would start a political party and also contest in the 2021 assembly elections. DMK is desperate to come to power and after the mammoth win in the parliamentary elections, DMK, its allies were sure that they would emerge successful and somehow make Karunanidhi’s handpicked son, M.K. Stalin the Chief Minister. Whether it is paying Prashant Kishore the political strategist a whooping ₹380 Crores, or the wife of the DMK chief running from one astrologer to another and one temple to another, the DMK’s minions in the media while brushing all these under the carpet continue their tirade against BJP, AIADMK, and Rajini. Well, the desperation is evident.
The last time DMK was in power was from 2006 to 2011 and that too it was a minority government. The12 to15 hrs power cuts made the people cut DMK’s power in Tamil Nadu. DMK was accused of monumental corruptions but that is not new to them. Who can forget the epithet “scientific corruption” coined by the Sarkaria Commission for describing the DMK! If DMK comes back to power, it will obviously find every opportunity to loot the state with their whole eco system benefitting from the spoils of the electoral victory.
As Stalin eagerly waits to grab the chair, to spoil his chances comes Rajinikanth. Intelligence reports seem to suggest that he remains a crowd puller and can dash the hopes of not only the DMK but even the AIADMK. Rajini declared that his politics will be based on spirituality, something that is in sharp contradiction to the pseudo-secular and anti-Hindu hate politics of the DMK.
When Rajini was speaking at the Tamil magazine Thuglak’s 50th anniversary function, he heaped praises on the late editor Cho Ramaswamy’s fearless journalism, Rajini said that Cho had cultivated a whole breed of common people into intelligent readers through Thuglaq. He further added that “If someone reads “Murasoli” (DMK’s daily mouthpiece) one can ascertain that the person belongs to the DMK and if someone reads the “Thuglak” one can presume that he or she is intelligent. This remark had created a furore with the DMK and its accomplices in the media camouflaged as neutral journalists feeling outraged with many making the corollary whether Rajini called ‘Murosoli readers as ignoramuses.
While the DMK might put up a brave face, the flutter that is created every time Rajini says or does something, is evidence of the command the man has over Tamil Nadu.
All said and done, it is Tamil Nadu that needs Rajini and not the vice-versa. As he himself said “The system has become rotten”. Unless it is mended now, it can never be done for the decades to come.
(Views expressed here are the author’s own)