CHENNAI: Almost the entire Opposition, is ready to wave black flags to the PM Narendra Modi when he comes to Chennai on Thursday.
This could be the third time the DMK is waving black flags to the country’s top political leader, only after Jawaharlal Nehru - during the anti-Hindi agitations in 1950s - and to Indira Gandhi - soon after the Emergency years.
The DMK had resorted to waving of black flags to top national politicians in those days as a tool to gain the national media’s attention.
The first PM welcomed by DMK’s black flags was Nehru in 1953. It was the Dravidian party’s response to Nehru’s remark that the anti-Hindi agitations were “non-sense” protests.
The DMK was then a young political party and was aggressively carrying out protests against Hindi imposition by the then Congress government.
An executive committee meeting of DMK party on July 13, 1953, resolved that the party would block trains to protest Nehru’s “derogatory” remarks against the anti-Hindi protests and wave black flags to Nehru when he next visits Tamil Nadu.
Many DMK leaders and cadre were arrested and jailed when they blocked trains on July 15, 1953. Former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who blocked a train at Dalmiapuram in Tiruchy district, was among them.
When Nehru visited Tamil Nadu a few months later, there were only very less number of DMK cadre outside the prisons and they managed to wave black flags to Nehru and get arrested.
The next was in October 1977 when Indira Gandhi, who had by then lost power after the Emergency years, was visiting Tamil Nadu. DMK wanted to wave black flags to her for the atrocities she allegedly committed during the Emergency years.
Pazha Nedumaran, the then general secretary of the Congress party, remembers vividly how it ended up ugly when a group of DMK cadre surrounded and even managed to assault Indira Gandhi when she was in Madurai.
“Indira Gandhi was to attend the meeting at Race Course grounds. She was moving in an open car, along with a few leaders, including me. She was waving at crowds. A large crowd of DMK cadre, who were holding black flags, razed down a welcome arch. When we reached South Main street, they (DMK men) surrounded and attacked her. Indira Gandhi suffered injuries despite efforts by people like me to protect her,” says Pazha Nedumaran.