Holding the lovers of traditional music in sway is a child’s play for Anitha Kuppusamy, a leading folk singer, presenting concerts during the campaign for AIADMK for the last 10 days has given her a sense of empowerment.
Anitha Kuppusamy, who reportedly drew the ire of the DMK camp during her show for the AIADMK candidate at Villupuram, this bold woman is not ready to beat a retreat and is determined to continue her tour across the state. Further, she plans to add more spice to her show by highlighting the failures of the Congress and DMK. “It is my maiden political campaign after joining the party last year. When I criticised the DMK’s dynasty politics in my speeches at Villupuram, a mob of DMK men in full public view threatened to slice my tongue if I continue to target their party.”
“Though I became furious, AIADMK functionaries pacified me. But, the incident turned to an experience for me to understand how many difficulties and threats a woman has to face while establishing herself in the politics. However, the Villupuram experience has refined me and taught how to handle such issues,” she told Express.
Anitha Kuppusamy, who knows the knack of reading the pulse of the audience, says “people, especially women, turn up in large numbers to my concerts though there is no much publicity. It is just word of mouth that is drawing the crowd to my campaign shows.”
When asked about the songs and verses, she sang a number, which said, “We will defeat the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who act to the tune of Congress leader Sonia. We will vote for Amma to defeat the puppet PM. To bring development to southern Indian we will make Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa as Prime Minister of the country.”
“Minutes after I complete the songs, I will start speaking about the failure of the previous DMK regime to end the power crisis and steps taken by Jayalalithaa which helped the state to tide over the situation,” she added.
But the crucial aspect of my performance is to maintain the voice pitch and that helps to hold the audience in rapt attention, explained Anitha.
“But, a surprising fact and recognition to my campaign came in Chennai, where women IT professionals stopped and listen to my speech. They waved at me saying our vote is for the AIADMK. Going one step ahead, they also uploaded my pictures on social networking sites which again received a good response,” said an elated Anitha.