Vaiko upsets allies with ‘casteist’ talk

While lashing out at the DMK on Wednesday, Vaiko took his once popular political rhetoric and turned to making allegedly ‘casteist’ insinuations against DMK president M Karunanidhi. His alliance partners Thirumavalavan and Mutharasan looked visibly disturbed on the dais when he made these statements. 

VCK general secretary Ravikumar in fact did not mind posting a message on his Facebook page saying, “Denigrating someone in the name of caste is unacceptable.” A CPM MLA posted a message and deleted it shortly thereafter. 

Even Vaiko’s long-time associates used undesirable adjectives to describe his demeanour. “What does he expect from Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa? Does he expect Karunanidhi to surrender ahead of polls. Both Dravidian parties have around 30% votes. It is a matter of getting the extra votes to form government? Poaching party leaders and splitting parties is all he should expect,” said a friend of Vaiko who had also quit the DMK in 1993. “If he fails to keep his flock together, it is his weakness,” he added. 

A DMK insider who had worked with Vaiko in the past dismissed the emotionally charged media interaction during which he also did not spare journalists. He said, “His references about Gingee Ramachandran and L Ganesan (in 2004) are totally untrue. Does he expect people to forget a decade old history?” Significantly, Wednesday’s was not the first. 

Even on the day the PWF clinched deal with PWF, he called the alliance “Vijayakant alliance”, a comment Left parties took exception to and that triggered unrest for a week. Netizens too trolled Vaiko on Twitter and Facebook.

As the debate over his remarks triggered protests, Vaiko in an effort to defuse the situation, admitted it was the biggest blunder of his life and apologised to DMK president M Karunanidhi.