: The resignation of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has sown doubts in the minds of independent political observers whether the liberal atmosphere that largely prevailed in the recently concluded Assembly session would continue when AIADMK general secretary V.K. Sasikala eventually assumes office.
Though the last session witnessed some acrimonious gesturing and slanging matches, the opposition members were allowed to have their say, and sometimes, even the ruling party members were restrained from provoking them. In fact, on one occasion, Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal even told the Ministers that instead of interfering frequently to make clarifications when Opposition leader M.K. Stalin was addressing the House, they could give their response after he wound up his speech.
There was an unusual bonhomie between the ruling party and the opposition benches, which led to DMK deputy leader Duraimurugan extending his support to the continuation of O. Panneerselvam as the Chief Minister. Such an atmosphere did not prevail in the last 30 years when DMK leader M. Karunanidhi and late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa were at the helm.
Seeking to make light of the ensuing change in leadership, Mr. Duraimurugan says, “I think the liberal mood will continue to prevail. As the opposition party, we will ensure that there is free exchange of ideas.”
When specifically asked whether the election of Ms. Sasikala will see the return of personality-oriented politics, Mr. Duraimurugan quoted the Tamil saying, “All those who ruled from Gingee Fort cannot be King Desingu” and said, “All Chief Ministers cannot be Jayalalithaa.”
Congress whip S. Vijyadharini agreed that Mr. Panneerselvam had indeed paved the way for a relaxed atmosphere in the House and it was the expectation of every member that the democratic functioning of the opposition is allowed to prevail.
But not everyone was optimistic. “Ms. Sasikala has actually usurped the throne of Mr. Panneerselvam, who has a democrat in him. The new atmosphere will only perpetuate the master-servant relationship once again,” said James Reynolds Daniels, a political observer and former principal of Scot Christian College, Nagercoil.
Mr. Daniels argued that Ms. Sasikala’s emergence could not even be seen as a return of the personality-oriented culture since leaders such as C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi had unique qualities and achievements behind them. “She has staged a political coup. She is a person who has no personal involvement in social, economic and political affairs. She had remained a shadow of one of the tallest leaders of Tamil Nadu and has taken recourse to power politics. Her election is a negation of all the values the Dravidian movement stood for,” he said.