Wary of barbs, DMK deputes Udhay to Immanuel Sekaran death anniv

CHENNAI: From deputing its influential youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin to Ramanathapuram to attend the Immanuel Sekaran anniversary on Sunday to publicising the visit in countless advertisement in party mouthpiece, the ruling DMK has displayed an unusual enthusiasm over the event this year.

DMK mouthpiece ‘Murasoli’ dedicated several full page advertisements publicising Stalin junior’s visit.

To put this in contrast, the same party was content with deputing one of its ministers (Backward Classes Welfare Minister RS Raja Kannappan who hails from the district) and a few MLAs to pay floral tributes to the Dalit leader last year.

The change in approach, party insiders said, was to offset criticism surrounding the party’s attitude towards Dalit leaders’ events. Opposition AIADMK, too, has not escaped criticism from netizens and people espousing Dalit cause over their handling of ‘Tyagi’ Sekaran’s anniversary.

According to critics, this is notably different from the interest shown by both Dravidian parties in making their presence felt at the annual Thevar Jayanthi in Pasumpon. While Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami has seemingly been wary of attending the event in the aftermath of the expulsion of VK Sasikala and O Panneerselvam (both hail from Mukkulathor community), Chief Minister MK Stalin has been visiting Pasumpon for the event, more so after the demise of his father, late DMK leader M Karunanidhi, who did not mind giving such events a miss.

DMK insiders admitted on condition of anonymity that they do not want to be seen as discriminating between leaders of different communities. “People will question our leader (Stalin’s) absence. Hence, we deputed our youth wing secretary. People familiar with the power equation in our party will know that the leadership has given importance to Immanuel Sekaran anniversary,” a senior State functionary reasoned.

When asked, DMK organising secretary R S Bharathi recalled that Stalin had attended the event two years ago.

“He had agreed to attend Vaiko’s felicitation function long ago. Hence, our youth wing secretary has been deputed to Ramnad. For DMK, Thevar Jayanathi and Immanuel Sekaran death anniversary are the same. We treat them both equally. There is no discrimination. Participation of our top leaders depends on their itinerary. Our senior leaders have always attended Immanuel Sekaran’s anniversary,” he said.