Poetic spar over VCK joining govt

 Chennai: Peeved over the VCK and IUML, long-time allies of the DMK, joining the government led by the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), DMK deputy general secretary and former Union Minister, A Raja, penned a poem that invoked the metaphor of a married woman finding intimacy with another man, earning the wrath of many and impelling DMK president M K Stalin to appeal to party members not to hurt the feelings of others.

VCK leader S S Balaji came out with a counter poem warning of getting scorched for the needless anger and intolerance over ordinary people gaining political power and the expression of that angst through the hurling of abuses.

Raja was rather direct in his attack by saying that if the ‘ladder’ meant to take one up and the ‘panther’ that should be fighting caste discrimination were to support the sound of whistle there is nothing wrong in a married woman abandoning her husband and finding another man.

Ladder is the election symbol of the IUML, panther is the English word for Chiruthai that refers to the C in VCK and whistle is the election symbol of the TVK.

In its retort, the VCK, in its official social media page said ‘keep agonizing, VCK is no slave pledged to anyone,’ adding that it was a historic lesson taught to those playing fake social justice politics with a view to exploiting alliance partners as vote banks.

Seeking to put an end to the controversy, triggered by the exchange between Raja and Balaji, who said that while decency demanded going past the abuses silently repeated injustice could lead to disastrous consequences, Stalin said every party had the right to take its own political decisions.

Congratulating ‘policy comrades‘ Vanni Arasu of the VCK and Shajahan of the IUML who have been sworn in as Ministers, he pledged to work as a constructive opposition that would praise the good deeds and be a critic of the bad ones.