Pointing that having been born in, brought up with and propagating self-respect all through his life all over the country, he would never lose self-respect, DMK President Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi , taking strong exception to Jayalalitha’s speech she read out at a government function in Srirangam, said having sought more than 200 adjournments so far in the Disproportionate Assets case against her, Jayalalitha should not speak about self-respect. He challenged her for a debate on self-respect.
Kalaignar participated in the Mupperum Vizha - marking the birthdays of Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna and the Founding Day of the DMK – in Villupuram, taken on a very large scale like a conference by the District DMK and presented Periyar Award to Mumbai P.Appadurai, Anna Award to A.Rahman Khan, Bharathidasan Award to Tmt. Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and Kalaignar Award to R.D.Seethapathi and prizes to winners among college and school students in the Bharathidasan poetry recitation competitions and best auto drivers.
Recalling his early days in public life and association with Villupuram, Kalaignar said while utilizing films and dramas for propagating the principles of the movement, for the first time they started a drama ‘Saantha Allathu Palaniappan’ on behalf of Naagai Dravida Nadigar Kazhagam only in Villupuram. “In those days, we were very new and surprising for party comrades and public. I still remember. There is one river Pambaiyaru at the edge of Villupuram which flows and not flows. We, of the DK and that Nadigar Sangam would go to that river for bathing and return to the mandapam where we were staying, holding up in hands, shirts and dhotis for drying in sun light. Thus this place Villupuram is where we moved together.”
Stating that the town was one among the unforgettable places in his public life, particularly in political and DMK history, Kalaignar mentioned unforgettable names – Shanmuga Udayar, Thangavelu and A.Govindasamy then and Ponmudy now.
Now in 89 and not knowing for how many more years he would serve, Kalaignar said he was living with the desire to continue to serve with the same spirit. Referring to the earlier speakers mentioning about upsurge among DMK ranks now, Kalaignar said he had the pride of creating it in those days. “If Stalin is now hailed as hero of future, hero of uprising, hero of youth etc., I am proud that he is my son. I could see such youth developing themselves and working for the party with the feeling of dedicating their strength and potential to the movement.”
Punning on the word Vizhupuram, Kalaignar said now not only in Vizhupuram but manyplaces and the entire Tamil Nadu had turned into ‘Vizhapuram’ because of festivity and it would always be ‘Veezhapuram’ never falling down.
Referring to the speakers pointing out that the younger generation now had gained inspiration, Kalaignar said he was consciously aware of that inspiration which had derived in his early years. Kalaignar recalled a conference he organized in Tiruvarur under the auspices of ‘Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram’ for which he had invited Com. Mathiazhagan and Prof. K.Anbazhagan who were then studying in Annamalai University. It was the first time himself and Anbazhagan met at the railway station and their friendship continued till date and would continue for ever in spite of efforts to cause rift between them, Kalaignar affirmed adding he formed himself listening to Anbazhagan’s speeches, reading his research articles and witnessing his works. Similarly he moulded himself by listening speeches of Anna and reading and imbibing by heart the writings of Anna and poems of Bharathidasan.
Kalaignar said though he was now 88 years old and had won all the 12 elections he had contested so far, the latest being at Tiruvarur, where he romped home with a margin of 56,000 votes, it did not bring him cheer because the DMK had lost even the Opposition party status in the Assembly.
He would not blame partymen for such a state of affairs, but attributed it to the mistakes committed by those for whom the DMK and its leaders toiled. Yet, he did not have any grief or anger over the turn of events because he was of the firm view that every failure was a stepping stone to success.
Kalaignar said when he contested from Kulithalai constituency for the first time in 1957, he said he secured women votes in large numbers and in one booth for women in Thanneerpalli village the box for Congress was empty. According to the saying that only if you consider defeats as steps you can achieve victories, he was working unbothered about victories and defeats.
Explaining the importance of politics in relation to social task, Kalaignar said we were using politics as an instrument for uplifting the society and to remove evils in it. Politics was helpful for us to successfully carry out social tasks. If we throw away the help for carrying out social tasks, we won’t get total success. Although Periyar discarded politics and elections, only because of DMK’s help we could give legal form for his principles and views. Hence for societal success we need politics also. There were days when organizing self respect marriages faced many difficulties and they were legally not valid. But conducting self-respect marriages was a social principle to successfully implement which we required politics. Only because we brought a legislation in the Assembly they were legalized. By giving effect to the law to marriage conducted previously also, a social revolution was accomplished only because politics was useful for us, we could implement our social objective, Kalaignar said.
The DMK, in spite of all difficulties, obstructions and anarchy of ruling party, was determined to accomplish its social objectives.
Hitting out at Jayalalitha for stating that he had no self-respect, Kalaignar said she should not speak about it without knowing what it was. “Where it is available? Whether they will measure or weigh and give? Will it come from Bangalore? Self respect is not an ordinary matter. It is my movement’s spirit. Periyar and Anna spread and developed that spirit among youth like me in those days.”
Kalaignar said he was born in a family of music tradition. The community in which he was born faced many difficulties from higher caste people. However great musical experts born in that community were not respected and decried. Even great vidwans like Rajarathinam PIllai, Kulikarai Pichaiyappa Pillai, Tiruvengadu Subramaniam Pillai had to take away towels from their shoulders and tie around waist on seeing higher caste people and pay respects. When he was studying in school in Tiruvarur and came to his village he used to have a towel on his shoulders. Elderly people in the village would snatch the towel in Agraharam and ask him to tie around his waist. On reaching home he refused to go for training in music because he had to give up self-respect. If he could not wear the towel he purchased with his money and had no right for that why this training in music and threw away those music instruments. Thereafter he never saw any vidwans and got acquainted. Thereafter he knew only vidwans Perasiriyar and Navalar Nedunchazhiyan and Maha Vidwan Arignar Anna. It was only because he refused to bow before that condition sans self-respect in his young age that he continued to be a worker of self-respect movement till date, Kalaignar asserted.
When reporters asked him to describe his nature in one line, he told them, “I am a self-respect man with self esteem.” He gave so much importance, for self-respect because ‘khd« v‹ kf‹ nf£l jhyh£L, kuz« mt‹ Moa éisah£L’ (Self-esteem was the cradle song my son listened to. Death was the game he played) “Did not he (Stalin) play with death during MISA imprisonment” which Chittibabu had written. All the guards and speakers in the party had suffered imprisonments, attacks and stone pelting. Kalaignar said if only he had given up self-respect and succumbed to ADMK, he would not have been beaten and dragged away from his house by the police in 2001 resulting in pain in his shoulder, a surgery in the spinal cord and the present movement on a tricycle. Only because he was so firm that he did not come down to the level but Tamil Nadu had come down, where Jayalalitha could say that he had no self respect, he resented.
If he kept patient on Jayalalitha telling like this about him, which would certainly agitate DMK rank and file, it was because there should not be any uproar in Tamil Nadu. Let us not reply to them. Let them look at the mirror and find out who did not have self respect.
Those who sought over 200 adjournments were reminded of self respect. The court itself held that their guilt was true,” a chief minister buying government property was wrong. We point the mistake behave yourselves atleast hereafter.” Do these people have self respect? Quite unbothered about shame, they sought over 200 adjournments and now complained that the appointment of a judge itself was not valid. Those who did all these claimed that they had self respect and accused him of losing it. “Being born, brought up and propagating self respect all through my life, I will never lose self-respect.” Nobody is born in Tamil Nadu to snatch away my self-respect. If anybody vouch to do it they can’t be Tamils, Kalaignar categorically said.
“People know my history. I know their history. Shall we have a competition? Shall we conduct a debate on the incidents of losing self-respect and who were involved? One day debate on self-respect not in the Assembly but in a common hall. Come for the debate. No quarrels and exchange of blows will happen. Particularly when a man and a woman debate, I don’t like all these things. Hence stop with talking about self-respect. If my younger brothers start replying to all these, it will go to end somewhere.” (applause)
Slamming the ruling ADMK over the handling of the anti-nuclear protests at Kudankulam, Kalaignar charged the Jayalalitha government with having no intentions and courage to hold talks with the agitators to put an end to the stir.
“What is happening at Kudankulam? People are apprehensive over such a big project started with an investment of crores of rupees. The state cabinet (last year) urged the Centre to allay the people’s fears regarding the plant before proceeding with it, giving hopes to them that the government was on their side,” he said.
However, Jayalalitha made a flip-flop on her stand vis-a-vis the project and as works gathered pace, protests also intensified, he said.
“There seems to be no intention and courage (on part of the government) to hold talks with them. They seem to control them by use of force,” he said, recalling the death of a fisherman protesting against the plant in police firing early this week.
Police had also lobbed teargas shells to disperse protesters at Idinthakarai, the epicentre of the protests against the Indo-Russian joint venture.
People were asking how many more lives would go (before the issue was solved), he said, adding, talks should be held to put an end to the continuing protests.
Kalaignar said the party plans to accord 30 per cent reservation to youth in the elections to come. He said that he came up with this idea after witnessing the rising strength of the youth wing of the party.
“It is not necessary that only those elders who had been fielded earlier should contest in the upcoming elections. We may give opportunity to the youth by allocating at least 30 per cent seats to them. Women contestants may get 5-10 per cent seats. I will discuss this with party General Secretary Prof. K Anbazhagan and will come out with a detailed plan for the upcoming elections,” he said.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will soon decide on the percentage of seats to be allotted to youth and women for the Lok Sabha and other elections. In his opinion, 30 per cent of the party seats could be earmarked for the youth and five to 10 per cent for women.
Though the issue had not come up yet for formal discussions in the party forum he had done some loud thinking in this regard so that Party General Secretary Prof. K. Anbazhagan, who was present on the dais, would know his mind, he said. After due consultations with senior leaders such as Prof. Anbazhagan, the party would announce its policy on reservation of seats for these two categories of the party cadre, Kalaignar said.
Prof. Anbazhagan said that he could think of only one reason for the drubbing which the party received in the elections, i.e., the partymen’s failure to observe discipline. He called upon the cadre to safeguard the party discipline to get back to glory.
Kalaignar participated in the Mupperum Vizha - marking the birthdays of Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna and the Founding Day of the DMK – in Villupuram, taken on a very large scale like a conference by the District DMK and presented Periyar Award to Mumbai P.Appadurai, Anna Award to A.Rahman Khan, Bharathidasan Award to Tmt. Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan and Kalaignar Award to R.D.Seethapathi and prizes to winners among college and school students in the Bharathidasan poetry recitation competitions and best auto drivers.
Recalling his early days in public life and association with Villupuram, Kalaignar said while utilizing films and dramas for propagating the principles of the movement, for the first time they started a drama ‘Saantha Allathu Palaniappan’ on behalf of Naagai Dravida Nadigar Kazhagam only in Villupuram. “In those days, we were very new and surprising for party comrades and public. I still remember. There is one river Pambaiyaru at the edge of Villupuram which flows and not flows. We, of the DK and that Nadigar Sangam would go to that river for bathing and return to the mandapam where we were staying, holding up in hands, shirts and dhotis for drying in sun light. Thus this place Villupuram is where we moved together.”
Stating that the town was one among the unforgettable places in his public life, particularly in political and DMK history, Kalaignar mentioned unforgettable names – Shanmuga Udayar, Thangavelu and A.Govindasamy then and Ponmudy now.
Now in 89 and not knowing for how many more years he would serve, Kalaignar said he was living with the desire to continue to serve with the same spirit. Referring to the earlier speakers mentioning about upsurge among DMK ranks now, Kalaignar said he had the pride of creating it in those days. “If Stalin is now hailed as hero of future, hero of uprising, hero of youth etc., I am proud that he is my son. I could see such youth developing themselves and working for the party with the feeling of dedicating their strength and potential to the movement.”
Punning on the word Vizhupuram, Kalaignar said now not only in Vizhupuram but manyplaces and the entire Tamil Nadu had turned into ‘Vizhapuram’ because of festivity and it would always be ‘Veezhapuram’ never falling down.
Referring to the speakers pointing out that the younger generation now had gained inspiration, Kalaignar said he was consciously aware of that inspiration which had derived in his early years. Kalaignar recalled a conference he organized in Tiruvarur under the auspices of ‘Tamil Nadu Tamil Manavar Mandram’ for which he had invited Com. Mathiazhagan and Prof. K.Anbazhagan who were then studying in Annamalai University. It was the first time himself and Anbazhagan met at the railway station and their friendship continued till date and would continue for ever in spite of efforts to cause rift between them, Kalaignar affirmed adding he formed himself listening to Anbazhagan’s speeches, reading his research articles and witnessing his works. Similarly he moulded himself by listening speeches of Anna and reading and imbibing by heart the writings of Anna and poems of Bharathidasan.
Kalaignar said though he was now 88 years old and had won all the 12 elections he had contested so far, the latest being at Tiruvarur, where he romped home with a margin of 56,000 votes, it did not bring him cheer because the DMK had lost even the Opposition party status in the Assembly.
He would not blame partymen for such a state of affairs, but attributed it to the mistakes committed by those for whom the DMK and its leaders toiled. Yet, he did not have any grief or anger over the turn of events because he was of the firm view that every failure was a stepping stone to success.
Kalaignar said when he contested from Kulithalai constituency for the first time in 1957, he said he secured women votes in large numbers and in one booth for women in Thanneerpalli village the box for Congress was empty. According to the saying that only if you consider defeats as steps you can achieve victories, he was working unbothered about victories and defeats.
Explaining the importance of politics in relation to social task, Kalaignar said we were using politics as an instrument for uplifting the society and to remove evils in it. Politics was helpful for us to successfully carry out social tasks. If we throw away the help for carrying out social tasks, we won’t get total success. Although Periyar discarded politics and elections, only because of DMK’s help we could give legal form for his principles and views. Hence for societal success we need politics also. There were days when organizing self respect marriages faced many difficulties and they were legally not valid. But conducting self-respect marriages was a social principle to successfully implement which we required politics. Only because we brought a legislation in the Assembly they were legalized. By giving effect to the law to marriage conducted previously also, a social revolution was accomplished only because politics was useful for us, we could implement our social objective, Kalaignar said.
The DMK, in spite of all difficulties, obstructions and anarchy of ruling party, was determined to accomplish its social objectives.
Hitting out at Jayalalitha for stating that he had no self-respect, Kalaignar said she should not speak about it without knowing what it was. “Where it is available? Whether they will measure or weigh and give? Will it come from Bangalore? Self respect is not an ordinary matter. It is my movement’s spirit. Periyar and Anna spread and developed that spirit among youth like me in those days.”
Kalaignar said he was born in a family of music tradition. The community in which he was born faced many difficulties from higher caste people. However great musical experts born in that community were not respected and decried. Even great vidwans like Rajarathinam PIllai, Kulikarai Pichaiyappa Pillai, Tiruvengadu Subramaniam Pillai had to take away towels from their shoulders and tie around waist on seeing higher caste people and pay respects. When he was studying in school in Tiruvarur and came to his village he used to have a towel on his shoulders. Elderly people in the village would snatch the towel in Agraharam and ask him to tie around his waist. On reaching home he refused to go for training in music because he had to give up self-respect. If he could not wear the towel he purchased with his money and had no right for that why this training in music and threw away those music instruments. Thereafter he never saw any vidwans and got acquainted. Thereafter he knew only vidwans Perasiriyar and Navalar Nedunchazhiyan and Maha Vidwan Arignar Anna. It was only because he refused to bow before that condition sans self-respect in his young age that he continued to be a worker of self-respect movement till date, Kalaignar asserted.
When reporters asked him to describe his nature in one line, he told them, “I am a self-respect man with self esteem.” He gave so much importance, for self-respect because ‘khd« v‹ kf‹ nf£l jhyh£L, kuz« mt‹ Moa éisah£L’ (Self-esteem was the cradle song my son listened to. Death was the game he played) “Did not he (Stalin) play with death during MISA imprisonment” which Chittibabu had written. All the guards and speakers in the party had suffered imprisonments, attacks and stone pelting. Kalaignar said if only he had given up self-respect and succumbed to ADMK, he would not have been beaten and dragged away from his house by the police in 2001 resulting in pain in his shoulder, a surgery in the spinal cord and the present movement on a tricycle. Only because he was so firm that he did not come down to the level but Tamil Nadu had come down, where Jayalalitha could say that he had no self respect, he resented.
If he kept patient on Jayalalitha telling like this about him, which would certainly agitate DMK rank and file, it was because there should not be any uproar in Tamil Nadu. Let us not reply to them. Let them look at the mirror and find out who did not have self respect.
Those who sought over 200 adjournments were reminded of self respect. The court itself held that their guilt was true,” a chief minister buying government property was wrong. We point the mistake behave yourselves atleast hereafter.” Do these people have self respect? Quite unbothered about shame, they sought over 200 adjournments and now complained that the appointment of a judge itself was not valid. Those who did all these claimed that they had self respect and accused him of losing it. “Being born, brought up and propagating self respect all through my life, I will never lose self-respect.” Nobody is born in Tamil Nadu to snatch away my self-respect. If anybody vouch to do it they can’t be Tamils, Kalaignar categorically said.
“People know my history. I know their history. Shall we have a competition? Shall we conduct a debate on the incidents of losing self-respect and who were involved? One day debate on self-respect not in the Assembly but in a common hall. Come for the debate. No quarrels and exchange of blows will happen. Particularly when a man and a woman debate, I don’t like all these things. Hence stop with talking about self-respect. If my younger brothers start replying to all these, it will go to end somewhere.” (applause)
Slamming the ruling ADMK over the handling of the anti-nuclear protests at Kudankulam, Kalaignar charged the Jayalalitha government with having no intentions and courage to hold talks with the agitators to put an end to the stir.
“What is happening at Kudankulam? People are apprehensive over such a big project started with an investment of crores of rupees. The state cabinet (last year) urged the Centre to allay the people’s fears regarding the plant before proceeding with it, giving hopes to them that the government was on their side,” he said.
However, Jayalalitha made a flip-flop on her stand vis-a-vis the project and as works gathered pace, protests also intensified, he said.
“There seems to be no intention and courage (on part of the government) to hold talks with them. They seem to control them by use of force,” he said, recalling the death of a fisherman protesting against the plant in police firing early this week.
Police had also lobbed teargas shells to disperse protesters at Idinthakarai, the epicentre of the protests against the Indo-Russian joint venture.
People were asking how many more lives would go (before the issue was solved), he said, adding, talks should be held to put an end to the continuing protests.
Kalaignar said the party plans to accord 30 per cent reservation to youth in the elections to come. He said that he came up with this idea after witnessing the rising strength of the youth wing of the party.
“It is not necessary that only those elders who had been fielded earlier should contest in the upcoming elections. We may give opportunity to the youth by allocating at least 30 per cent seats to them. Women contestants may get 5-10 per cent seats. I will discuss this with party General Secretary Prof. K Anbazhagan and will come out with a detailed plan for the upcoming elections,” he said.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will soon decide on the percentage of seats to be allotted to youth and women for the Lok Sabha and other elections. In his opinion, 30 per cent of the party seats could be earmarked for the youth and five to 10 per cent for women.
Though the issue had not come up yet for formal discussions in the party forum he had done some loud thinking in this regard so that Party General Secretary Prof. K. Anbazhagan, who was present on the dais, would know his mind, he said. After due consultations with senior leaders such as Prof. Anbazhagan, the party would announce its policy on reservation of seats for these two categories of the party cadre, Kalaignar said.
Prof. Anbazhagan said that he could think of only one reason for the drubbing which the party received in the elections, i.e., the partymen’s failure to observe discipline. He called upon the cadre to safeguard the party discipline to get back to glory.
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