ERODE: When Abraham Lincoln uttered the words, “The ballot is stronger than the bullet,” in 1856, he would have been conscious about his statement that holds a guiding message for the future generations.
Around 140 years later, in 1996, when the farmers in Modakurichi, wanted to drive home the point, they would have been well aware that they were presenting the State with a historic movement with their action.
When the farmers of the region realised that their charter of 33 demands were not addressed, they decided to take the issue up, in the Assembly elections that followed in the same year.
The members of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturalist Associations, decided to take a political plunge.
The plunge not just splashed the water of reform across the State but across the entire country. As many as 1,033 candidates contested from Modakurichi constituency in Erode district.
Among them, 1,029 were farmers who contested as Independents. Stunned by the numbers, the Election Commission of India postponed the polling by a month - to elaborate the arrangements.
For the first time in India’s electoral history, the ballot paper was replaced by a 50-page booklet to accommodate all candidates.
People of the town recall that huge barrels were brought in as boxes were big not enough to hold the ballots.
Polling time was extended as voters had a tough time to go through the entire booklet selecting their candidate.
C Nallasamy, who served as the secretary of the federation since 1990, the year of its formation, recounts, “The decision to contest elections was our way to highlight whatever bad that was going on in our country back then. We had several demands including river-interlinking project, issuance of identity cards for all citizens, penalty for those who do not vote, establishment of a turmeric market, etc.”
Electoral politics was only to make our demands heard, he adds.
In an iconic line, reminding one of Bhagat Singh, he says, “Our goal was not to win but to be heard.”
Adding an interesting fact, Nallasamy says out of the 1,033 candidates, 88 did not even vote for themselves and 161 of them did.
The then Chief Election Commissioner, to whom the country and its citizens owe a lot for the core reforms he brought in the electoral process, TN Seshan, visited Modakurichi and appreciated the farmer-contestants.
Two of the farmers’ demands were met. The EC introduced the ‘NOTA’ option and the deposit amount for aspirants was increased from Rs 250 to Rs 10,000.
Over two decades have passed since the event but the association’s pride hasn’t faded a bit as it was instrumental in bringing a small, but significant change, that upholds the faith in the democratic exercise.