Top brass diktat tied to DMK leaders' silence on actors’ talk

Other than the off-the-cuff response to media queries, mostly by second rung leaders, the principal opposition party in the state has distanced itself from the newfound political interest of the actor-politicians.

Barring DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi, who had also responded only to a media query on political vacuum, neither party president M K Stalin nor the top brass of DMK have expressed their views on the speculation about the two actors coming together for 2021 Assembly election. Unsurprisingly, the silence was a conscious political decision taken at the highest level in the third largest party of the Parliament. Inquiries revealed that even some outspoken second rung leaders of DMK were also taking cue from their president Stalin who famously once said, “We are discussing politics,” when asked to respond to Kamal Haasan’s jibe at the DMK. Understandably, DMK insiders argue under condition of anonymity that they would do well to ignore the actors whose main target was DMK more than the ruling party. “Though they (actors) are criticizing the ruling party now, their agenda would be attacking us because we are the main contenders for 2021. Why should we engage them?” asked a state-level DMK functionary requesting anonymity.

“One can easily infer from the meeting between the actors and right-wing mediators that they are proxies of the BJP. Ultimately, it is the BJP which is planting retired actors against us,” the functionary argued.

“We don’t want to waste our time reacting to such men. They (actors) are trying exploit their popularity after losing monetary value in cinema. What have they done to the people so far? They are proxies of BJP trying to scuttle our chances in 2021. Our party has made a conscious decision to avoid them,” reasoned a DMK source, before suggesting a palpable change in their narrative close to the next Assembly election.