The article first appeared in THE WEEK on June 23, 2013
It was my mentor and leader Arignar Anna [former chief minister C.N. Annadurai] who initiated 'alliance' politics in the country. And he made it a success. During the 1967 assembly polls, he formed an alliance to consolidate anti-government votes. I follow the practice even now. At the national level, too, alliance politics has been holding fort for more than 20 years.
We were part of the ruling coalition at the Centre for many years, maintaining good relations with our allies. We have shown how an alliance partner should act for the good of the nation. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam quit the United Progressive Alliance not for the party's benefit, but for betterment of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
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The DMK will decide on when and with whom it should forge an alliance during the run-up to the 2014 general elections. The DMK's executive committee and the general council, will discuss and decide on it based on the national political situation at the time of the elections.
When it comes to Tamil Nadu politics, it is a 'one-man show' as far as the ruling AIADMK is considered. In the assembly, no member can voice his opinion in a democratic way. The chief minister will come to the assembly every day; she will read out 110 statements on the floor of the assembly about things that come under some other minister's portfolio. And the ruling party's MLAs, ministers and the Speaker will shower her with praises. During the recent budget session, no minister got the chance to read out statements. It was all read by the chief minister herself.
In advertisements released on behalf of the government, or on behalf of the ruling party, only the chief minister's photo will appear. In the case of new schemes launched by the government, only those newspapers praising her every day will get full-page advertisements. In fact, the chief minister never goes in person to launch such schemes; she does it through video conferencing. But there will be no dearth of full-page advertisements. From the chief minister's residence to the venue of the function, you will find cut-outs and posters. All with one single face! All praising her!
When the AIADMK completed two years in power, it gave two full-page ads to every newspaper. If the government can say how much it has spent on advertisements in the past two years, the people would be happy to know.
The level of democratic freedom in the state can be understood if we count the number of defamation cases filed against opposition party leaders and the media. The police arrest anyone whom the ruling party doesn't like. If you seek the reason, it will be a case or complaint filed by some unknown person years ago. If the arrested person comes out on bail a few days later, yet another case will be slapped against him. And after a few days, he will be released without citing any reason. Like a mystery novel!
The ruling party will issue a statement saying that some people have been expelled from the party for some reason. And in a few days, there will be another statement saying that the expulsion has been nullified! Why was he or she removed from the party or why was the order cancelled? No one will know.
The chief minister would go to conferences organised by the Centre. She would demand preference to air her views. And then suddenly she would say she wasn't given enough time to talk, and walk out. She would go to Karnataka for holding talks on the Cauvery issue and walk out of that as well. For anything and everything, cases are filed in the Supreme Court.
Even the ministers don't know what is in store for them tomorrow, whether they will continue in their posts. Today you could be a minister, tomorrow you could sit idle. Similarly, somebody sitting idle today could become a minister tomorrow. It is the same with the bureaucrats. Today you might be the home secretary, tomorrow nobody will know where you are posted.
Life is a drama and who knows what will happen tomorrow? This is the state of politics today.
Translated from Tamil by Lakshmi Subramanian