TTK to Senthilbalaji, scams thar rocked TN politics

By K Karthikeyan & J Shanmugha Sundaram

CHENNAI: etween the early 1960s and 2023, corruption has only changed form and size in Tamil Nadu. While the earlier Congress governments were accused of drafting policies in favour of their industrialist and landlord-donors, it has manifested as scams in executing government schemes during the reign of the dravidian parties.

Former Chief Minister K Kamaraj, who is considered an epitome of simplicity and integrity, is said to have once famously summarised that corruption came into being the day the concept of a government evolved.

RS 2 PER VOTE-ERA OF ‘INDUSTRIALIST-FRIENDLY’ CONGRESS

Dravidian scholar and historian K Thirunavukkarasu recalled how the DMK, which was the lone Dravidian party in existence in the 1960s, successfully campaigned against the industrialist-friendly policies of the Congress governments since the late 1950s.

“The Congress reign of Kamaraj and Bhaktavatsalam did not face allegations of a scam in executing schemes/projects. Back then, the Congress party was accused of framing policies in favour of bus owners, who were big industrialists then, and landlords. They were the biggest donors of the erstwhile Congress party. It resonated among the people,” he said. The pro-industrialist Congress is also accused of bribing voters.

“Congress governments faced charges of paying up to Rs two per vote. They were accused of buying upma and coffee for votes in the bygone era,” Thirunavukkarasu added.

KARUNANIDHI’S DATE WITH SARKARIA COMMISSION

From inducing voters with food using generous donations of industrialists in the 1960s, corruption evolved into embezzlement of public funds by a greedy few in power during the later Dravidian party governments.

Serving his second tenure (1971-76) as the Chief Minister of the State, the Muthuvel Karunanidhi-led government faced graft allegations from his estranged friend MGR’s AIADMK, which along with the Communist MP Kalyanasundaram, petitioned the President for constituting an inquiry commission.

The Sarkaria Commission, led by retired Supreme Court justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria, was constituted in February 1976, soon after Indira Gandhi dismissed the Karunanidhi-led DMK government.

The Commission probed the allegations and reportedly contributed to the misnomer “scientific corruption,” a term former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa generously used in election campaigns every time she trained her guns at the DMK.

But, the commission failed to prove the charges against the Karunanidhi government and the report only ended up as an exercise in vain with no major indictment made.

ANTI-CORRUPTION WARRIOR TO ALLEGED ENABLER: MGR AND INFAMOUS PAUL, RAY COMMISSIONS

Ascending to power in 1977 after riding on an anti-corruption wave, the maiden AIADMK government led by matinee idol MGR was hammered by a corruption charge in 1979.

IAS officer S Ramakrishnan, the then managing director of state-owned Poompuhar Shipping Corporation, exposed the Bulgaria shipping deal scam. The corruption bug bit MGR again following the incorporation of TASMAC to allow the wholesale supply of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The MGR-led regime had initially appointed Justice Kailasam to head the one-man commission of inquiry and later replaced him with Justice Sadasivam, acceding to the opposition DMK’s request to probe the liquor scam.

Pertinently, it was for the same scam that the Indira Gandhi government constituted the SK Ray Commission of inquiry, which was stoutly opposed by the MGR regime. Around the same time, MGR was forced to constitute Justice CJR Paul led a one-man commission to probe the death of HR and CE officer Subramaniam Pillai in Tiruchendur temple premises.

After M Karunanidhi made the Paul Commission report public, the issue rocked the ruling AIADMK so much that a rattled MGR had reportedly obliged Morarji Desai and rolled back his proposed support to Indira Gandhi-led Congress in the Thanjavur bypoll.

THE MAIDEN TENURE THAT UNDID JAYALALITHAA

While MGR lost no assembly poll despite the corruption blitz, his successor J Jayalalithaa was not lucky. The political history of the State could not be sketched without a chapter on the 1991-96 tenure of Jayalalithaa.

The ugly flaunting of power and wealth by Jayalalithaa and VK Sasikala during the wedding of her adopted son Sudhakaran would be etched in the memory of every Tamil Nadu citizen of the previous century. The ‘glittering’ image of the duo, which adored the magazine covers back then, was so devastating that the AIADMK suffered the worst political rout in its history and reduced to a four-member party in the State legislature after the 1996 Assembly poll.

The enormity of scams in her maiden tenure was so overwhelming that she ended up suffering arrests and at least three convictions for scams years dating back to the tenure. She went down in history books as the lone serving CM convicted twice for corruption. Even the disproportionate assets case, the lone case she could not escape even after her death (judgment was delivered two months after her demise), belonged to the 1991-96 tenure, which took a toll on at least a few of her cabinet colleagues.

Former minister TM Selvaganapathy, who later joined the DMK, lost his Rajya Sabha nomination in DMK after being convicted in the cremation shed scam. Indira Kumari, social welfare minister of Jayalalithaa’s first cabinet, was also convicted later when she was in DMK in connection with an irregularity committed during that reign. Adding to that, the serving DMK minister Senthilbalaji is also now being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for the alleged cash-for-job scam that occurred during the previous AIADMK regime.

ARREST OF KARUNANIDHI AND MK STALIN

The subsequent DMK regime (1996-2001), widely considered the golden rule of Karunanidhi by DMK members, was not bereft of corruption charges either. The who’s who of DMK, including then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, his son and then Chennai Mayor MK Stalin, were arrested in the subsequent AIADMK regime in 2001 in connection with the alleged irregularities in flyover construction and Chennai Cooum river restoration projects implemented in the twilight of the millennium. Several senior members of the DMK were charged for disproportionate assets. However, not a few were convicted since then.

Senior journalist and political commentator ‘Tharasu’ Shyam says, “Corruption charges can be used for election campaigns and serve as content for public speech. But it never influences the voting pattern. The election is an art. The political arithmetic and chemistry between the leaders and cadres of the alliance parties would bring results.”

“We have seen convicted politicians voted to power within a few months and emerging victorious within a few months or year,” he said, citing the AIADMK’s reduction to a four-MLA party in the 1996 Assembly before staging a stunning comeback in 1998 with 39 MP seats.

2G TSUNAMI AND DMK’S GREAT LOSS IN 2011

The second tenure of Jayalalithaa (2001-2006) did not record as many scams, though she suffered convictions in the old TANSI and Pleasant Stay Cases (later acquitted in both cases).

The successive DMK regime (2006-11) led by Karunanidhi, in which incumbent CM Stalin was also a minister, could not escape the public fury when the alleged 2G Scam, along with a vast number of land grab charges faced by its second rung and lower-level leaders, plus the power shortage issue ripped off the DMK boat in toto.

The impact was so much that the DMK only managed to win 23 seats in the following 2011 Assembly election, losing even the Principal Opposition Party status to AIADMK’s then-ally DMDK.

Returning to power in a similar situation as her mentor MGR, a buoyant Jayalalithaa had even constituted an exclusive Land Grab Cell in the state police to probe the allegations against her predecessor government.

The 2011-16 regime of Jayalalithaa was defined more by her abstention from active politics, albeit seasonal wonders like sweeping 37 seats in the 2014 LS polls with the Modi vs Lady question, mainly at the end of the tenure, owing to illness than scams.

THE TENDER CORRUPTION VORTEX THAT ENGULFED EPS AND CO

Jayalalithaa’s death on December 5, 2016, opened the floodgates for her hitherto leashed lieutenants, who, led by Edappadi K Palaniswami from February 2017 to April 2021, were engulfed by the vortex of corruption charges.

The tenure of EPS, who became CM by chance, was marred by tender irregularities in government departments. Over half a dozen ministers, SP Velumani, P Thangamani, Dr C Vijayabaskar, KP Anbazhagan, MR Vijayabaskar, Kamaraj and even Palaniswami himself faced corruption charges.

Central agencies like the CBI and Income Tax department raided the premises of most of the aforesaid ex-ministers during the EPS regime. While EPS has so far successfully evaded FIR in the highway tender allocation complaint and his go-getter Assembly whip SP Velumani got one FIR quashed in the Madras High Court in tender allocation case (HC refused to squash the DA case FIR against him), the charge sheet has been framed against the health minister Dr C Vijayabaskar in the Gutkha scam by the CBI. The state vigilance and anti-corruption unit have filed charge sheets against Vijayabaskar and KP Anbazhagan in DA cases to the tune of Rs 35.79 and Rs 45.2 crore, respectively. DVAC has yet to file a charge sheet against MR Vijayabaskar and R Kamaraj. Meanwhile, a preliminary inquiry has commenced against EPS in the construction of 11 medical colleges.

Significantly, the state BJP has been firing corruption barbs at the ruling DMK over the wealth amassed by its leaders in the past. State BJP president K Annamalai, who accused chief minister M K Stalin in a Chennai Metro Rail rolling stock purchase scam, is facing defamation suits from CM among the DMK leaders for the “DMK Files” videos. Unsurprisingly, the DMK has been countering Annamalai’s “DMK Files” by raising the Adani issue and Rafale Watch (Bell and Ross) purchase and house rent issues (Senthilbalaji first raised it). The answers given to the charges by the cop turned politician have been reportedly riddled with holes.

Eminent journalist and author AS Panneerselvam says; “BJP is seen as a party of pure rhetoric. Their track record in the last so many years has not been encouraging. Their failure in J&K issue, faulty GST implementation, the mess created by demonetisation and raging Manipur issue have made the BJP’s probity argument a damp squib. Their hue and cry over corruption is now seen more as a rhetoric to deflect their failures. Therefore, they are seeking solace in the name of righteous governance to hide their inability.

Senior journalist GC Shekar says; “The people voted out J Jayalalithaa in assembly polls in 1996. It was attributed to the poor administration that was riddled with widespread corruption and the autocratic approach. However, she returned to power in the 2001 elections.”

Reproducing GK Moopanar’s famous quote after striking an alliance with Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK in 2001 that the people have punished her in the 1996 elections and it was okay to align with her, Shekar said, “There is an attitude that if a politician was defeated in an election, he/she can be forgiven for their corruption and wrongdoing. It is the wrong attitude.”

“But, the people have now concluded that it’s right to demand money for their votes. The vicious cycle of taking and giving money for a vote has been normalised.” “BJP’s campaign on clean politics and the party leader K Annamalai’s take on the DMK leaders will have an impact on certain sections of the society. But it will not have a significant effect,” he added.

“Since the Edappadi K Palaniswami-led regime is riddled with corruption in various departments, ranging from highways tender to procuring street lights in rural local bodies, the AIADMK has no moral rights to speak about corruption. It gives leverage to the state BJP,” Shekar added.