Reporter’s Diary: ‘Alms’ remark returns to haunt Bharathi as Raja speech goes viral

DMK propaganda secretary A Raja tore into his party colleague’s casteist jibe in public. Participating in a meeting at the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam a few days ago, Raja said, “If I am admitted to a hospital after an accident and need a blood transfusion, I cannot tell brother Bharathi that I will only take Adi Dravidar blood. Likewise, if Bharathi is in a similar situation, he cannot claim that he will accept only Mudaliar blood. If he insists, he will die. Blood groups are only AB+ or AB- or O+. There is no caste in blood.” As much as the thoughtfulness of his statement was driven home, the DMK propaganda secretary’s criticism of his own party’s organising secretary impressed even many a DMK worker in the audience. It was not uncommon to hear DMK men in Kalaignar Arangam murmur that the seasoned DMK organising secretary deserved some disciplining from his ideologically committed junior party colleague. DMK netizens did not waste time in rebuking Bharathi online, thanks to Raja’s video, which went viral on Facebook and Twitter. Little would Bharathi have expected that a senior party colleague would be responsible for his innocuous statement returning to haunt him.