Puratchi Puyal. A revolutionary hurricane. And the name that his supporters have given V Gopalasamy, popularly called Vaiko, the chief of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Vaiko, like Karunanidhi, chose the West Masi Street-North Masi Street intersection for his Madurai meeting. The crowd, however, was about half of what it was for Karunanidhi, who heads the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
After Vaiko left the Democratic Progressive Alliance and joined hands with J Jayalalithaa, the buzz was that the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief had managed a coup, while it was a blow of sorts for Karunanidhi. But as Vaiko entered the Madurai leg of campaigning, things did not look bright, in the least. Pre-poll surveys point to the MDMK's weak position. Further, after giving the responsibility of targetting the DMK to Vaiko, the AIADMK has not showed much interetsed in the constituencies where the MDMK is contesting.
And that is the background to Vaiko's visit to Madurai.
While most leaders start their speeches at around 9.15 pm and finish by 10.00, Vaiko, known to be a skilled orator, began his speech at 8.30 pm.
Now, that could mean one of two things. You could go back with the satisfaction of having heard a superlative speech, or
As expected he began with a salvo against Karunanidhi. "Only recently, at this same Masi intersection, my elder brother Kalaignar (how supporters refer to Karunanidhi) spoke at length about democracy and autocracy. But where was his sense of democracy when, decades ago, he got the MGR government dismissed after tying up with the Congress?"
He continued - "Where was his sense of democracy when he conducted alliance talks with the Congress when he was part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre? Where was his sense of democracy when Jayalalithaa was assaulted inside the precincts of the Assembly?"
And on and on, again - "And where was his sense of democracy for the past five years, when he did not enter the state Assembly a single time?"
Vaiko thundered and listening to him, after the speeches about free rice and colour television sets, it was a relief to hear some valid questions being raised. But it was too good to be true.
It turned out that this was the only interesting part of his speech. Just as the crowd applauded and expected more fireworks, Vaiko plunged into his now customary tirade against Sun TV and the Sun TV group owned-Dinakaran newspaper and Union Home Minister Dayanidhi Maran.
He leveled the oft-repeated charges against the two media outlets before accusing Dayanidhi Maran of trying to arm-twist the Tatas in a bid to control the direct-to-home entertainment sector, another stale charge. These charges, lacking punch and the 'so-what' factor, chased away the audience's interest. And even the crowd petered out with Vaiko's next move.
He criticised the DMK for lying to the Centre that the MDMK and the DMK were in an alliance within an alliance, and hence getting extra ministerial berths. The MDMK had said it will not be part of the government and hence declined ministerial berths.
Further, in the name of attacking the DMK, Vaiko dug out truckloads of dirt against the party and its leaders. As one of his own supporters said - "Why is he saying all this now? These are more confessions than accusations! Wasn't he in the DMK when all these misdeeds happened?"
As he meandered to more irrelevant, oft-repeated and mostly personal grudges, it was an hour into the speech and the crowd had had enough. Because, apart from the Karunanidhi-democracy rhetoric, he ostensibly had nothing new to say. At around 9.40 the crowd started melting away and from a decent gathering an hour ago, withered completely.
This, apart from prompting the question whether Vaiko had completely lost the plot, also highlighted another reality of these elections the decline in the standard of public speaking. The two top masters Karunanidhi and Vaiko have been mediocre this time.
Karunanidhi's failing can be attributed to age but Vaiko's is best known to himself. Jayalalithaa has never been known for her oratorical skills. Apart from these, there has not been a single second-rung leader who has captivated the crowds, as was in the past.
And thus ended another lacklustre campaign in these hard-fought Assembly elections.
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