Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo M Karunanidhi may have been off the political radar owing to his frail health, but his 94th birthday is set be a happening affair with opposition leaders from across India landing in Chennai on June 3.
Karunanidhi has seen various ups and downs in his political career but the state of crisis in Tamil Nadu after Jayalalitha’s death is unprecedented. Moreover, the Narendra Modi-led BJP juggernaut has put entire opposition on back foot.
In such a scenario, the best birthday gift for Karunanidhi will be the unity of opposition parties.
The BJP’s open invitation to superstar Rajinikanth is another cause of worry for DMK.
Political observers say opposition unity is now the need of hour and essential for survival of many regional parties. And Karunanidhi’s birthday party, planned at the Chennai’s YMCA ground, may see the first signs of it.
“They are trying to consolidate the opposition, both at the state and national level. At the state level, it is the coming together of allies (DMK and Congress) along with communist parties and others. At the national level, it is to help the Congress organize a larger coalition of the opposition with an eye on 2019 elections. They should make sure they get all key people together on this,” said political observer Sumanth Raman.
Raman’s views hold ground in the wake of Karunanidhi’s impending birthday party. Why else would a gala, to celebrate the life of a 94-year-old politician, attract the likes of Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sitaram Yechury and Farooq Abdullah? That too a party which the ‘birthday boy’ himself is unlikely to attend?
DMK working president M K Stalin has also openly announced that BJP leaders are not welcome to his father’s birthday celebrations.
“The BJP has announced their first job is to eliminate the Dravidian movement and we don’t want to create an uncomfortable situation by inviting them to share the dais with our leader,” Stalin, Karunanidhi’s son and heir apparent, said at an event last week.
That the birthday bash comes ahead of the Presidential elections is significant. It also comes at a time when the ruling AIADMK is in shambles and DMK is desperate to fill the void in a politically aggressive Tamil Nadu.
Party sources also point out that while the main aim is to celebrate Karunanidhi’s birthday (in absentia, of course), politics may take over once the guests arrive.
“We have invited Chandrababu Naidu, whose party is in an alliance with the BJP. But we haven’t received a confirmation from him yet,” a senior DMK leader told News18.
Beyond Birthday party, Stalin’s strategy is being seen as a clever move. “Stalin might have different aims than occupying the role of the principal opposition party in the national sphere, but the buzz that the June 3 meet has generated means that his temporary target has been more or less achieved,” points out Frontline associate editor R K Radhakrishnan, who felt the southern push for a united Opposition could fill the void left by a defunct Congress, an imploding AAP and a listless Left.
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