Caste-ing Raja Raja Chola
On Sathaya Vizha, the birth anniversary of King Raja Raja Chola, the claims of communities stating the ruler belonged to their caste began surfacing, once again. This year, the number of claims has spiked, thanks to director Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan. Several proud posters have appeared on walls across the State. A poster from the undivided Thanjavur district’s Chola Vellalar indicated that the king belonged to their caste while another poster hailed Chola as Chola Maravan.
The Veera Chola Parayar Nala Sangam from ‘Chola Mandalam’ displayed posters with the king’s picture. Another poster claims to be from the descendants of the King who hailed him as Vanniya Kula Kshatriya Mamannar and Kshatriya Sigamani. Yet another poster described the king as Kallarkula Mamannar Raja Raja Chola Thevar! The Naidu, Nadar and Udayar communities put up posters. As every caste claims to be descendants of Raja Raja Chola, one thing is certain: one king for all and all for one.
DMK as headmaster?
The recent move by the DMK to get all MPs to sign a memorandum demanding President Droupadi Murmu to recall Governor RN Ravi was supported by all alliance partners. However, some MPs belonging to an alliance party were clearly miffed the DMK leaders wanted them to visit their office to sign it. They termed the behaviour part of DMK’s big brother attitude and felt like “schoolboys” who get regular summons from a headmaster.
Relieved Mamata in Madras
Mamata Banerjee, who had a tumultuous relationship with Jagdeep Dhankar during his tenure as governor, looked relieved when she visited Chennai for the family function of West Bengal Governor-in-Charge L Ganesan. This was in stark contrast to the prolonged acrimonious relationship she had with Dhankar, now the vice president. After Ganesan took over, the situation changed dramatically, due to the cordial relationship between the two. On October 24, Ganesan visited Mamata’s residence for Kali Puja and hailed her simple living. In Chennai, she was in such a jovial mood that she went to the `chenda melam’ players, and played the drum before entering the venue. The amateur playing of drums is part of the Indian political theatre now, they say.
Cold war in Nellai
In Tirunelveli, S Subramanian replaced former MLA ALS Lakshmanan as DMK’s district corporation secretary with the support of the party’s central district unit secretary-cum-Palayamkottai MLA Abdul Wahab. Subramanian recently met DMK corporation area secretaries, including the rivals of Wahab, to obtain their blessings. This enraged Wahab and a cold war ensued between the duo. Apparently, Subramanian was not allotted a seat on stage in a crucial executive committee meeting organised by the central district unit last week. The rift between corporation secretary Subramanian and district secretary Wahab seems to have widened further.
Karur’s anti-Balaji crusade
After V Senthil Balaji joined the DMK in December 2018, several senior party members in Karur district were upset that they were being sidelined, courtesy the former’s aggressive organising skills. One of the Thogamalai union councillors of DMK, who switched his loyalty to the opposition AIADMK last week, has become the cynosure of all political eyes. Many leaders from the anti-Balaji team have started a campaign projecting the exit of leaders as his failure. TNIE has learnt that some seniors are taking intensive efforts to take the issue to the high command.
(Contributed by S Kumaresan, T Muruganandham, Thinakaran Rajamani. Compiled by Archita Raghu)