The ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, which is battling the charge of functioning as the BJP’s B team , has been left politically red-faced by Dairy Development Minister K.T. Rajenthra Bhalaji ’s extreme Hindu position in public.
In an interview to a Tamil television channel, Mr. Bhalaji, also the party’s Virudhunagar district secretary, embarrassed the government by insisting that the recent murder of BJP functionary F. Vijay Raghu in Tiruchi has religious angle to it. This was in contrast to the stand of the law enforcing authorities. Tiruchi Police Commissioner V. Varadharaju, had emphatically ruled out the communal angle and attributed “personal enmity” for the crime.
The Minister also said if the DMK “continues its support for Islamic terrorism and organisations that kill Hindus, nobody can stop Hindu terrorism”.
The DMK has since petitioned the Governor seeking his dismissal from the Cabinet, a stand endorsed by other parties including the Congress.
Mr. Bhalaji is known to make audacious remarks. In the middle of last year, he called for cutting off the tongue of Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan for describing Nathuram Godse , assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, as “free India’s first extremist, who was a Hindu”. A few months earlier, much to the amusement of the AIADMK, he described the Prime Minister thus: “[Narendra] Modi is our daddy. India’s daddy.” He was once caught on camera confronting a disgruntled party worker who tore up a poster that had the image of V.K. Sasikala, jailed aide of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Even on matters of governance, he has courted controversy. Mr. Bhalaji’s accusation that private dairies were indulging in adulteration had triggered litigation and the Madras High Court, in October 2017, had to restrain him from making any such statements further.
Expectedly, the AIADMK is seeking to distance itself from his radical position. “Our party is for all, regardless of religion, caste, creed or language. This has been the path shown by Anna [C.N. Annadurai], Puratchi Thalaivar [M.G. Ramachandran] and Amma [Jayalalithaa],” is how Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, considered the government’s spokesperson, reacted to Mr. Bhalaji’s comments. He said everyone should make statements “in line” with the party’s policies .
An AIADMK veteran acknowledged, “We do not understand what he seeks to gain by courting one controversy after another. But the image of the government and that of the party suffers in the process.”
Leaders are emphatic that the political reality in the State does not permit the party to be seen as one favouring extreme position on any issue. It was out of this realisation that Jayalalithaa , after suffering a drubbing in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls in the company of the BJP, did never align her party with the national party again. She did not change her position despite being wooed aggressively by the latter at different points of time. “She had a perfect working relationship with many leaders of the BJP. A classic example was her equation with Mr. Modi. Yet, at the time of elections, she had kept a respectable distance from the BJP,” pointed out a senior leader.
Mr. Bhalaji’s remarks appear to have increased the woes of the ruling party, which is already feeling the political heat over its stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act . What many senior leaders say is Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, at times, does deliver “strong messages” to his colleagues. A case in point is his sacking of Information Technology Minister Manikandan last year after the latter made certain observations on cable TV tariff. The leaders are watching what the Chief Minister is going to do in the latest episode.
Despite repeated efforts, the Dairy Development Minister was not available for his comment.
