A video song released by the Tamil Nadu BJP to promote the party’s Vetrivel Yatra with visuals of its president L. Murugan interspersed with those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran has rankled the AIADMK.
More of a promotional video of Mr. Murugan, the song, similar to one from an MGR movie, has multiple visuals of him tilling land, riding a tractor on farm land.
When asked if the his party was trying to appropriate the late AIADMK leader, K.T. Raghavan, BJP State general secretary said MGR was known for his good governance as was K. Kamaraj. “MGR was a leader who had got a good name as Chief Minister for his governance. Our leaders quote Kamaraj as well. MGR was an icon in Tamil Nadu. So we are using the reference. There is nothing wrong with that,” he said.
AIADMK deputy coordinator K.P. Munusamy, however, strongly opposed the visuals of MGR. “Our Dravidian ideology and movement is different. Their [BJP’s] ideology is different. Using our leader’s visuals and images to get their party to grow is absolutely unacceptable and condemnable,” he said.
According to him, the video only proved that the BJP had accepted that MGR was the undisputed leader in Tamil Nadu. “Our leader, Puratchi Thalaivar’s fame and legacy belongs only to the AIADMK and our cadres. Other parties do not have the moral right to lay claim to any of it,” he told The Hindu .
Mr. Munusamy wondered if the BJP was so short of leaders, who had given good governance, that they had to use MGR and usurp his achievements for the growth of their party in Tamil Nadu.
Referring to the visuals of Mr. Murugan interspersed with MGR’s, he said there was a limit to such comparisons. “MGR is a Bharat Ratna. People still look at him like God. Who are you comparing with whom? Aren’t you crossing a limit,” he asked.
