CHENNAI: Six weeks after BJP national secretary H Raja tendered an unconditional apology for his Facebook post saying Periyar statues would be removed in Tamil Nadu just like Lenin statues were removed in Tripura, his party colleague and actor SVe Shekher too has courted controversy by posting objectionable remarks on journalists, particularly women journalists. After widespread opposition, he removed the post and apologised.
While Raja had disowned the post on Periyar statues saying it was posted by the admin of his Facebook account, Shekher too adopted more or less similar strategy by saying he had posted the message of a friend without reading the content. Another similarity was that on both occasions, BJP national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao rebuked both Raja and Sekher for making such remarks.
This is not a rare incident in the recent past. This seems to have been routine in the past many months. Mostly non-issues, controversies, angry outbursts and distasteful comments raised by politicians have been occupying print and television media leaving comparatively less time for fruitful deliberations.
There are charges that politicians raise such non-issues to declare their presence and in the process, real issues faced by the common man are pushed to the back seat.
Every passing day is filled with these controversial statements from one side and the counter statements from the rest and sometimes, such comments lead to law and order issues. The controversy over poet Vairamuthu’s remark on Goddess Andal lasted nearly a month even after he tendered an apology. This also led to charges and counter charges from BJP leaders like Raja and others and lengthy debates went on. The recent controversy involving Raja’s latest objectionable comment on DMK president M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and controversial Facebook post of SVe Shekher on women journalists have sparked widespread protests by DMK cadre and journalists.
Political analyst Raveenthran Thuraisamy is of the view that “Until the death of Jayalalithaa, there was some definite political atmosphere and the key developments hovered around her and Karunanidhi. Obviously, a fluid situation is prevailing as far as leadership is concerned. So, everyone wants to project themselves as a big leader. This will continue until there is a settled political atmosphere”. He further said : “These remarks are made to get publicity. But in reality, they bring only negative publicity for those making such noises. Perhaps, they do not know these heated exchanges will not change the voting pattern - i.e., the parties of such politicians won’t increase their vote share by making such remarks. This kind of empty activism eats up the precious space of print and television channels leaving less space for hardcore issues.”
Political analyst Tharasu Shyam says such non-issues and controversial issues have been occupying Tamil Nadu’s political scenario since many decades. “In the given socio-political situation, any remark or comment cannot be ignored as mere trivia or a non-issue. Just a couple of decades ago, no newspaper would have carried many of the controversial remarks being made by political leaders just for the sake of ethics and decency. But, the situation has totally changed after the advent of social media. It serves as the channel for those who are oppressed and depressed due to the prevailing issues - say, Cauvery issue in which justice is eluding Tamil Nadu for half a century,’’ political analyst Tharasu Shyam said. ‘‘Ultimately, social media has become the game changer on many issues. Further, no one needs to depend on media to express their views,” he added.