‘Blind support’ to BJP irks AIADMK cadre

CHENNAI: By voting in favour of the Delhi Services Bill, which would reduce the elected government and its Chief Minister in Delhi to a powerless political entity, in Parliament, the AIADMK has self-inflicted yet another wound in the political spectrum of the Dravidian land.

It has been reducing itself to a carbon paper of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre when it comes to supporting crucial bills such as Farmers Bill, Triple Talaq Bill, CAA, NRC and the recent data protection bill. The ranks and files in the party expressed disappointment and anguish over the party’s decision to blindly support the contentious bills and policies of the saffron party.

“On behalf of the AIADMK, I support the bill...,” party’s Rajya Sabha MP M Thambidurai said, while speaking in support of the The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill 2023 in the upper house of the Parliament. The AIADMK members were among the 131 who voted in favour of the Bill for safe passage and undo the collective effects of the opposition parties with 102 members voting against it.

Justifying the party’s stand, a young AIADMK functionary said, “Being an alliance party, we are supporting certain bills that have no adverse impact on Tamil Nadu. It is not going down well as the opposition made use of such a move for their political gain. It has also pushed the minorities away from our party.”

He, however, rejected the opposition campaign that AIADMK is subservient to the BJP and its leaders Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

The AIADMK’s move is not surprising as it always wanted to stay close to the Centre since the days of party founder MG Ramachandran. The party is more concerned about its own rights and survival, said political critic and senior journalist AS Panneerselvam. “Now, they want to reconcile how they are going to position themselves politically in the line of federalism, regional identity and plurality,” he said.

He further said “Anna” and “Dravida” are the misnomer in the AIADMK as the party leadership is massively in favour of centralisation and going against the core ideology of Dravidian icon CN Annadurai. Echoing the same, senior journalists ‘Tharasu’ Shyam said, “The AIADMK’s stand is totally against the principles of Jayalalithaa, who vehemently stood for state autonomy and the party will be labelled as a pro-Centre right leaning entity. It will pay heavily for this in the forthcoming elections.”