Without doubt, 2016 has been a tumultuous year for Tamil Nadu. Looking back, it would certainly be in contention for the title annus horribilis, beginning with the aftermath of unprecedented floods in December 2015, and at curtain call, the State struggling to grapple with the death of a Chief Minister and the resultant political pandemonium.
In January last, the State was barely recovering from the devastating impact caused by the floods of December 2015, but the events of the year, as they unfolded, brought greater shocks to Tamil Nadu. Undeniably, the biggest of them was the death of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. She was hospitalised on September 22 and stayed at the Apollo Hospitals for 75 days. But, her sudden cardiac arrest when it seemed as if she was recovering, was the single biggest event for the State in 2016. The events that followed are likely to reshape the political profile of the State.
O. Panneerselvam, who had stepped in twice before for Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister, had been reallocated her portfolios when in hospital, and it was but natural that he was nominated Chief Minister by his party after her death, despite the intrigue and secrecy that preceded his anointing.
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Later, the succession of Jayalalithaa’s close aide V.K. Sasikala to the position of general secretary of the AIADMK caused a raging storm, with the year ending on speculation about the extent of her ambition.
The Assembly elections in May saw the victory of the AIADMK over the DMK. Elections in 2016 put paid to the idea of a possible third front as an alternative to the two Dravidian parties existed.
The People’s Welfare Front, cobbled together by MDMK leader Vaiko and including the VCK, Communist parties and DMDK leader Vijayakant bombed. Reports of rampant corruption caused the postponement of polls to two seats: Thanjavur and Aravakurichi. However, the ruling party picked these up easily later, as well as the Thiruparankundram constituency in the by-election.
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During September and October, protests erupted in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and for weeks, transportation across the border ceased, in continuation of the decades-long rivalry over sharing of Cauvery river water between the two States.
In June 2016, the State froze in shock at the gruesome murder of Infosys employee S. Swathi at the Nungambakkam railway station. A manhunt ensued, and the State was seized with the details of the case, right up to the sensational early morning arrest, incarceration and alleged ‘suicide’ of the accused in the case, Ram Kumar.
Yet another train that caught the imagination of the public was the daring robbery in the Salem-Chennai express in August, where thieves made away with Rs. 5.78 crore of soiled currency being transported to the RBI for incineration.
As 2016 bids farewell, concerns remain over the water position in the State, its political future, and the fate of the other Dravidian party (DMK) whose patriarch M. Karunanidhi has been ailing for a while now, and of course, Chennaiites wonder what fresh monsters hide behind another December (2017).