The Hindu : National : `We keep the promises we make'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 13, 2006

National

National

`We keep the promises we make'

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. Karunanidhi is poised to win from the Chepauk Assembly constituency for a record 11th time. The four-time Chief Minister, who has been president of the party since 1969, has never lost an election since he entered the fray from Kulithalai in 1957. The 82-year-old DMK chief is credited with many pioneering schemes for the uplift of the depressed classes, including setting up the Slum Clearance Board in the early 1970s to provide tenements for urban slum dwellers and, more recently, farmers' markets to ensure that farmers get a remunerative price for their produce. The DMK only promises what it can deliver, he told R.K. Radhakrishnan in an interview. Excerpts from the interview:

The promises in your manifesto — of rice at Rs. 2 a kg, two acres of land to landless farmers and a colour television for each home that does not have one — is unprecedented. Why did the DMK make the promises?

The people of the State have been badly affected by five years of AIADMK rule. A lot needs to be done for them. And it is not as if we have made promises only in this manifesto. In every manifesto of ours, we have made promises and implemented every one of them. Why do people who did not raise the question when the Chief Minister [Jayalalithaa] was making an announcement a day bring up the issue now?

Will development work such as building bridges and roads be affected due to the emphasis on welfare schemes? You held the finance portfolio. Faced with a mounting budget deficit, a huge salary bill and interest and pension payments, can the State can still manage to increase its capital expenditure?

You are aware of the many welfare schemes implemented by the earlier DMK government. You are also aware that at the same time no development work was affected. Hence, the question is not relevant.

If there is a genuine desire to help people, welfare schemes and development work can be carried out at the same time. A deficit budget is only one pointer to the financial health [of a State.] In a country like India, where the number of people below the poverty line is huge, subsidies will have to continue till the development schemes reach everyone.

You have been speaking to hundreds of people each day. Are they telling you the same things they did ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections? Do you think the 2006 Assembly elections will be a repeat of the 2004 elections?

The people who meet me each day tell me that there is a huge wave in our favour, much bigger than in 2004. The truth is that the ruling party is trying to hide this wave.

The seat-sharing process this time seems to have taken longer. For those on the outside, it looked as if the allies were driving a hard bargain. Is this correct? Is the DMK perceived as too dependent on its allies?

It is not wrong for each party to bargain hard. A true ally will assess the ground situation and make concessions. Is that not the correct way? The alliance discussed seat-sharing with an open mind and came to an agreement.

One major accusation that the Opposition levels against you is that you are trying to promote your family. How do you react to this?

The DMK itself is a huge family. I consider all of them my family, not just my individual family.

Because the Opposition has no issues, they keep talking about this often to tarnish my name. Rajaji [C.R. Rajagopalachari] occupied high posts. His son C.R. Narasimhan was an MP. The Kumaramangalam Zamindar Subbarayan's son, Mohan Kumaramangalam, his grandson, Rangarajan Kumaramangalam — all have been Union Ministers. The person contesting against me in Chepauk is the grandson of Quaid-e-Milleth Ismail Sahib. When there are so many families that can be accused of practising the politics of succession, is it fair that I am singled out because I am an ordinary person?

In 2001, you said it would be your last election. Is succession a contentious issue in the DMK?

It is true that I thought 2001 would be my last election, considering my health then. But my health has permitted me to take part in the 2006 elections too.

The DMK is a democratic party. Succession is not a contentious issue. There are rules and regulations guiding this.

Is the anti-DMK media a fallout of the business rivalry in the Tamil press and TV?

My opinion is that in any business, the rivalry should not transcend healthy limits. Since the media is considered the fourth pillar of democracy, they should not end up functioning in a way that hampers democracy. Everyone expects the media to be the lifeline of democracy. Just because it is a business no newspaper or television should give up its commitment to truth, should it?

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