The Hindu : We are getting closer, but there is no merger: Ganesan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 10, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu

We are getting closer, but there is no merger: Ganesan

By T. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI MAY 9. ``Yes, we are getting closer, we are closer psychologically''. This is how the MDMK presidium chairman, L. Ganesan, describes Wednesday's meeting the DMK youth wing secretary, M. K. Stalin, had with his party general secretary, Vaiko, in the Vellore prison.

``This is to make a combined fight against the undemocratic AIADMK regime. To make our fight effective, we are coordinating with other parties''.

However, Mr. Ganesan dismisses the talk of his party merging with the DMK. ``As on date, there is no such proposal. But, they are our natural ally, and the DMK and the MDMK are like a double-barrel gun''.

As the MDMK enters its 10th year, the focus turns on whether it will prepare to merge with the parent party, in the light of the recent development.

Though the DMK chief called on Mr. Vaiko twice in the last six months, it is the Stalin-Vaiko meeting which has surprised many, as it was over ``Varisu Arasiyal'' (hereditary politics), meaning projection of Mr. Stalin as heir-apparent to Mr. Karunanidhi, that Mr. Vaiko exited from the body and formed the MDMK a decade ago. Even when the MDMK was part of the DMK-led combine during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, there was nothing to suggest then that Mr. Vaiko and Mr. Stalin buried the hatchet.

Interestingly, the very basis of a merger talk underlines the marginal space that the MDMK occupies in Tamil Nadu politics. But, it has several points to its credit.

Apart from the DMK and the AIADMK, the MDMK is the only party, with its moorings in the Dravidian movement, which has existed for so long. Several leaders, starting from E.V.K. Sampath and Kannadasan to V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, and lately S. Thirunavukkarasar, left the DMK or the AIADMK and ran briefly their own parties before returning to either of the two parties or joining the national parties, Congress or BJP.

Nevertheless, the MDMK has not been able to become a major force in the State. That it does not have a single representative in the Assembly is a reflection of its standing.

Mr. Ganesan concedes, ``We are a small party in the State and smaller at the national level''. However, Mr. Vaiko, known for his fiery oratory, without holding any official position, has been able to create an ``enormous support base'' at the Centre. In this context, Mr. Ganesan claims that it was due to the efforts of Mr. Vaiko that the Centre, particularly the Prime Minister, gave approval for the Sethusamudram project.

One aspect that stands out markedly in respect of the MDMK is the ``LTTE tag''. The public perceive that it is this factor which has come in the way of the party enlarging its space. Mr. Vaiko is today in jail, because he has been charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for a speech he purportedly made on the banned organisation.

However, Mr. Ganesan maintains that his party's support is for the Sri Lankan Tamil cause, and that has got logically extended to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which, in the MDMK's assessment, has emerged as the force representing the Sri Lankan Tamils. ``This does not mean we support their methods and means'', he observes, adding that prior to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, every political party openly supported the LTTE.

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