Vel Yatra to amending rules of TNPSC, DMK ads have it all

Vel Yatra is back in the political discourse of the state ahead of the February 19 urban civic body election. Only this time, no trident-carrying BJP leader has so far invoked the Tamil god on a grand scale for electoral benefit. The ruling DMK has refreshed public memory about the Vel Yatra the BJP engaged in over a year ago in the run up to the 2021 Assembly election in Tamil Nadu.

The ruling DMK has used the BJP’s Vel Yatra in its poll campaign to hit out at the communal agenda of the saffron party. One of the campaign ads released by the DMK shows three men discussing, in the backdrop of a temple, the BJP’s old Vel Yatra to suggest that the saffron party had exploited it then for electoral gains, while the DMK has retrieved hundreds of crores of HR and CE property from encroachment.

In fact, Vel Yatra was only one of the issues used by the ruling DMK. The DMK has also improvised the amendment made to TNPSC rules and state rights to seek voters’ support. Significantly, the ensuing local body election, which normally would be fought on local issues, has seen issues of state and national significance dominating the campaign.

Chief minister M K Stalin has been raking up state autonomy, communal agenda of the BJP, NEET exemption and even financial autonomy of the state in his campaign speeches. Even Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami has invoked the ‘one nation, one election’ slogan of the BJP in the urban civic poll campaign to suggest that the state could see regime change in 2024 when the Parliamentary election is due.

Allies of DMK have also hit out at the BJP and AIADMK vis-a-vis larger national and ideological issues in the civic poll campaign. CPIM state secretary K Balakrishnan has directly accused the AIADMK joint coordinator of subscribing to the one-nation, one-election agenda of the RSS and BJP.