It is not often that leaders from parties across the spectrum share the stage in the heavily polarised political atmosphere of Tamil Nadu.
That’s because there aren’t as many leaders in Tamil Nadu politics who have been in enough number of parties to make such an event happen. The wedding of Anbarasan, the son of Congress leader S Thirunavukkarasar, turned out to be one such occasion.
The wedding, which was held at the massive Kamaraj Auditorium on Wednesday morning, saw leaders from diverse political cultures take to the stage together. Part of this unlikely crew of politicos were M Karunanidhi, Durai Murugan and VP Duraisamy of the DMK, L Ganesan of the BJP, Thol Thirumavalavan of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and GK Vasan and EVKS Elangovan of the Congress.
Thirunavukkarasar has been an MLA, MP and Minister at both the State and Centre with a whole host of parties over different time periods.
He has borne the red-white-black of the AIADMK, the green-saffron of the BJP and currently bears the saffron-white-green of the Congress.
Thirunavukkarasar’s attendance in a variety of parties over the years was acknowledged by Karunanidhi. “This is not the place to talk about politics. We have to understand that it is about preserving the breadth of Tamil culture. And it is this breadth that has given Thirunavukkarasar the kind of friends that you see here on this stage,” said Karunanidhi.
Leaders from other parties also noted the breadth of Thirunavukkarasar’s personal political spectrum.
Those in the crowd, however, noticed that the AIADMK, where Thirunavukkarasar’s political ambitions took flight, was conspicuous by its absence at the ceremony, thanks to the maverick leader’s falling out with party supremo J Jayalalithaa.