Karunanidhi trying to revive caste-based front

Is Tamil Nadu's Chief Minister M Karunanidhi seeking to revive the caste issue, even as his government tries to control the caste riots that broke out in the state? And is there a subtle political message for the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ally, the Tamil Maanila Congress, in this as much as there is in the obvious attack on Jayalalitha's leadership of the rival All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam?

"Not many seem to realise it, but Karunanidhi's renewed tirade against the brahmin community, starting with the DMK's conference in Salem earlier this month, is aimed at reviving the Dravidian political ideology," says an informed source. "While it is naturally seen as an attack on the brahmin leadership of the AIADMK and the Janata Party (both of which have come together since), what's not generally noticed is the message therein for the TMC."

As the source points out, TMC founder-president G K Moopanar took a totally anti-casteist stand during the recent caste clashes in the state's southern districts. Seeking to expand the DMK's support base so that his party can try and form a government of its own in the next elections, Moopanar is focusing his attention on the 30 per cent non-committed voters in the state, whose ranks are expected to swell further in the next four years or so.

In this context, the source refers to Moopanar touring the violence-affected areas before any other political leader, and hearing the views and complaints of all the affected sections with equal ease and patience. It was he who came up with the suggestion of withdrawing the names of all caste leaders from government organisations, notwithstanding their socio-political contributions. This found wide acceptance and the state government acted on it.

"Moopanar has gone to the masses, especially the younger generation, over the head of their respective caste leaders," says the source. "While it fits in well with the personality and character of the TMC and its leadership, it also has an intrinsic appeal for the younger generation that is rather distant in time and emotion from the Dravidian movement as it is with the Independence movement."

This, according to the source, is what Karunanidhi is seeking to counter with his 'revivalist' anti-brahmin tirade. "On the face of it, this still has some appeal for the traditional 'Dravidian movement voter' with the DMK. To him, it means taking on Jayalalitha's brahmin leadership of the rival AIADMK. But the undeclared, subtle aim is to try revitalise the non-upper caste voters on the DMK's side all over again."

He may have a point. Karunanidhi's Tamil Development Minister Thamizhkudimagan has been insisting on shop nameboards being written only in Tamil as per a 1972 law, which is mostly followed in the breach. He is also entrusted with the job of overseeing the Hindu temples in the state, and he lost no time in declaring that all the main pujas should be conducted in Tamil, and Sanskrit renderings offered only on request.

"This against is a revivalist tendency that has outlived its initial utility of the past," claims the source. "Whether or not it produces results, it has the potential to align the upper caste on the same side and the idea obviously is to try unite the backwards on the other.

"With Jayalalitha leading the AIADMK and Subramanian Swamy the Janata Party, and the TMC too being seen as an elitist party by DMK strategists, they hope to get the non-upper castes back again on the DMK's side."

With this strategy, the DMK hopes to reach out to the non-upper caste voters over the heads of their caste group leaders. The DMK's traditional pan-Tamil plank is too hot for comfort following the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, and this may be the new strategy for the party to recoup some of the traditional votebanks that had gone to the AIADMK. These voters are now undecided, as was seen from the AIADMK's state-wide electoral debacle last year.

Incidentally, the chief minister has ordered a probe into a report alleging a DMK legislator's compliance in a sandalwood smuggling case. Earlier, Karunanidhi had criticised The Hindu for its "pro-brahmin, anti-Sudra" stand, but ordered the probe at the DMK's Salem conference.

Adds the source: "If his intention was to find out the truth, he could have done it in a minute, long before the Salem meet. But by choosing his timing and involving a long-forgotten phrase like 'Sudra', Karunanidhi is only out to whip up anti-upper caste feelings in the rest of the population."