Already there is a growing perception among Hindus worldwide that the new Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is anti-Hindu.
In Tamil Nadu, reel life is often mistaken for real life.
M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) was for a long time the Chief Minister of the state. He was superb in delegating work to subordinates, so that he could work on ensuring his image amongst the Tamil people remained intact. MGR in reel life was the classic Tamil film hero, fighting evil and standing for the poor. It must be said that as CM he in many ways followed the same path. The number and expense of freebies grew substantially during his tenure. A quirk was his periodic durbar, when the common man was given entry to his presence if they were prepared to face long hours in the queue awaiting their turn with the CM. An episode was related to this columnist, which captures the essence of his style of public contact on an individual basis. MGR would keep by his side a gunny sack (you heard it right, gunny sack) filled with cash. Folks would come into his presence with tales of woe. The eyewitness says that a man came to MGR and asked what at the time was a fancy sum of Rs 5,000 to marry off his eldest daughter. MGR looked at the emaciated bundle of skin and bones standing, trembling, in front of him. He instructed an assistant to count and bundle with a rubber band not Rs 5,000 but Rs 10,000. The eyes of the man standing in front of MGR widened in surprise, which turned to joy once a wad of Rs 100 notes, Rs 10,000 in all, was handed over to him by MGR. In this manner, he built a huge number of admirers whose vote was certain to go to MGR. The last days of MGR, still the CM, were tragic. He had had a massive stroke which left him semi-paralysed. Yet he was still wheeled out to attend meetings of the Council of Ministers. It is almost certain that MGR with a vacant expression was unaware of what was being discussed. The concerned minister would wait until MGR gave a grunt or a gurgle, and interpret that as approval of his request. After MGR finally passed, his wife Janaki sought to inherit his mantle. She was challenged by J. Jayalalithaa, his wife in reel life. No prizes for guessing who won. Jayalalithaa, who hailed from Mysore, was elected CM with her party getting a huge majority in the state Assembly.
After a while, hubris got to her and she became somewhat vindictive against her foes. M. Karunanidhi, head of the DMK, was prominent in the list of her enemies, for he made little secret for his contempt for Jayalalitha. She sent a raiding party to his residence early in the morning, and somehow Sun TV Network got the information about the impending raid. They sent a unit which filmed a shaken Karunanidhi, dressed only in a lungi, and his wife. The former CM was repeating in piteous tones over and over in Tamil, "They have come to kill me". Sun TV ran the reel of the raid for days and public sympathy shifted from Jayalalithaa back to Karunanidhi, who returned to power in the next Assembly polls. In the election which Jayalalithaa had won, the Janaki wing of the AIADMK was wiped out and the Jayalalithaa wing triumphed. The real wife lost to the reel wife of MGR.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi was, like his predecessor C. N. Annadurai, a master in speaking rhythmic Tamil. Annadurai was felled by his habit of chewing tobacco. Early in his tenure, he fell ill with cancer as a consequence, and the mantle passed to the man Annadurai called "Mr Eleven Lakhs from Saidapet". For that was the sum collected by Karunanidhi for the party to fight the Assembly election, a huge amount in those days. Had the daughter of Karunandhi, Kanimozhi, become CM in place of Stalin, his son by another of his spouses, Tamil Nadu would have got a better administration and perhaps a different result from the just concluded polls, where the DMK trailed the party of film star Vijay in the seat tally. The folly of Stalin was to try and install his son Udayanidhi after him, but the party cadres were wary of the temper of the pampered son of CM Stalin. It is understood that Udayanidhi too was a Christian, the way Vijay was. However, absent was the Christian spirit of tolerance of diversity. The Christian churches have, over the centuries, evolved together with society. The head of the Anglican church, nearly a hundred million strong, is the Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by the Archbishop of York. For the first time in its long history, the Archbishop of Canterbury is a woman, a sign of the progress the church has made in respecting rather than rejecting societal mores. The Protestant church and the Catholic church have each adapted to the tines. The head of the Catholic church, the Pope, is for the first time a pontiff of part African descent. He is also the first US-born Pope in the history of the Catholic church. There was speculation that because Vijay was open about his Christianity, he would not do well. The fact is that converted Christians are aplenty in Tamil Nadu. Many use Hindu names in order to avail of the SC benefits that this long oppressed community finally got after freedom was won by India. Vijay has become millionaire several times over, and is open about his faith. Among his first decisions was to shut down liquor shops operating near educational institutions, although he avoided the trap of prohibition. Banning liquor legally will only give a fillip to bootleg liquor and smuggling, just as the Gold Control Order of Finance Minister Morarji Desai backfired. After the order was passed, Dubai began to blossom, its chief trade then being the smuggling of gold into India.
Where governance is concerned, CM Jayalalitha was adamant on control, the opposite of MGR. Her ministers were powerless, for all major decisions in key portfolios were taken by the CM. As CM, Vijay needs the backing of other parties to hold on to his present job, so he is likely to follow the MGR rather than the Jayalalithaa path and delegate. It remains to be seen if CM Vijay will be as effective in real life as he has for long been in reel life. The DMK and the BJP, although foes of each other, are determined that he fail in his job. The road ahead is steep and difficult, but judgement can only be made after almost a year of Vijay Raj has elapsed. Already there is a growing perception among Hindus worldwide that the new TN CM is anti-Hindu. CM Vijay will need to take all of TN society along and not favour some at the expense of the others. Otherwise, headwinds will only multiply, damaging not just the new ministry but the future prosperity of an important state.