Leaders of the DMK and the AIADMK till recently were mostly sworn enemies. But of late, many of them seem to be willing to look beyond their animosity.
On Saturday, Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha M. Thambidurai and AIADMK Minister D. Jayakumar visited Kauvery Hospital to enquire about the health of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, who has undergone tracheostomy, reciprocating the gesture DMK treasurer M.K. Stalin who visited Apollo Hospitals where Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was treated. He and DMK MP Kanimozhi also paid their last respects to Jayalalithaa.
Earlier, Mr. Karunanidhi’s wife Rajathi Ammal had met Jayalalithaa’s confidante V.K. Sasikala and enquired about the former Chief Minister’s health.
“We are advised by Chinnamma Sasikala to call on the ailing DMK leader. We wish him a speedy recovery,” said Mr. Thambidurai, who spent sometime with DMK principal secretary Duraimurugan and Ms. Kanimozhi.
“It is definitely good. What prevented the Dravidian leaders from meeting one another was their personal ego. Personality-based politics remained a stumbling block to interaction among party leaders. When an era passes, a new culture starts,” said Prof. Ramu Manivannan of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras.
He said many of the DMK and the AIADMK leaders who were old were witnessing the change through the younger generation.
Mr. Duraimurugan said while political differences turned into personal enmity during MGR’s regime, it touched an all-time low after Jayalalithaa assumed the mantle of party leader.
The enmity percolated to the grass-root level and ordinary party workers were not insulated. Mr. Karunanidhi had once complained that when he was mourning after the death of his nephew and former Union Minister Murasoli Maran, the party cadre in the AIADMK headquarters were bursting crackers.
“We had a great political culture and friendship cutting across party lines in the past. When Kalaignar’s mother died, he was away at a meeting and before he arrived, Kamaraj visited his house. The situation has come to a pass that we cannot attend marriages or other functions of opposition leaders,” Mr Duraimurugan said.
Good gesture
He said the visit of Mr. Thambidurai and Mr Jayakumar was a good gesture and he would like to congratulate Ms. Sasikala, who had sent them to enquire about our leader’s health.
“Let the good culture continue,” he said.
