CHENNAI: Politics is all about seizing the opportunity and the DMK seems to have received one in the ‘floods’. With DMK youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin’s birthday fast approaching, party cadre and second-rung leaders are gearing up to celebrate the day as Ilaignar Ezhuchi Nal (youth awakening day) by providing assistance to the public and the rain-hit. This, however, has raised some eyebrows.
Over the past two weeks, DMK youth wing district units and several other branches of the party have been busy holding workers’ meetings on celebrating Udhayanidhi’s birthday on November 27. The students’ wing of the party too held a zoom meeting on November 21 to discuss how to celebrate the birthday.
A former State functionary of the DMK told TNIE, “None would question if they celebrated Udhayanidhi’s birthday without fanfare. But if they want to make it a grand event because the party is in power, then it may draw flak from the public.”
Moreover, when the leadership wants to prove that the party has a place for workers by felicitating ministers like Senthil Balaji, Sekar Babu, Ma Subramanian and KN Nehru for their tireless work, a section of cadres in general and youth wing in particular want to prove that the party always supports dynasty politics. They are contradictory. The leadership should guide them (the cadre) to underplay such events (the birthday celebration), he added.
But a youth wing functionary from the delta districts disagreed. “What’s the problem in celebrating our leader’s birthday in a grand manner? Udhayanidhi Stalin is the main crowd-puller of the party after Chief Minister MK Stain. Moreover, we are going to celebrate his birthday by offering assistance to the needy.”
Veteran journalist and political observer T Koodalarasan told TNIE, “It’s their wish and we have nothing to comment on it. But here is a question: Will the DMK leadership accept it if the DMK’s women wing throws such a celebration on the birthday of Kanimozhi (MK Stalin’s sister)? Surely, they won’t. Hence, the grand celebration on Udhayanidhi Stalin’s birthday and projecting him as the next leader would prevent new generation from enrolling themselves in the DMK even if they belong to the families of the Dravidian movement. Since every coin has two sides, this celebration also has its pros and cons.”