Reporter's diary: Anniversaries of leaders, a time to retrospect

CHENNAI: Several neighbourhoods in the city recently woke up to the songs of the evergreen hero of Tamil cinema and former Chief Minister MGR on the 75th birth anniversary of late AIADMK supremo J Jayalilathaa.

The wide range of songs from Ulagam Sutrum Valiban, Rickshawkaran, Enga Veettu Pillai, Urimaikural, Adimai Penn, Aiyurthil Oruvan and other popular movies kept blaring from 6 am and till 1 pm without a break.

The list of songs played and replayed multiple times irritated several residents of the locality. Some even mocked the AIADMK functionaries for mistaking Amma’s birth anniversary for her mentor MGR’s.

To put a fine point on it, it’d be helpful for the political parties to educate the apolitical younger generation on the birth anniversaries and memorial days of charismatic leaders like MGR and Jayalalithaa, instead of sticking to the old fashion of playing songs from their movies. The message we send to the younger generation helps in popuralising party ideology and their erstwhile leaders’ contribution in State politics.

Amma’s regime was known for the Cradle scheme for abandoned infants, 69% for reservation of BCs, free laptop and bicycles to students and Amma Canteen, which made her popular among the working class. But these schemes, her contribution to the State and her forbidding persona are never highlighted on such occasions.

Instead, the party functionaries turned it into an occasion for old gossip and created nuisance for residents, particularly elderly people. It’s time for younger politicians to retrospect and involve themselves in meaningful activities by keeping the changing society in mind.