CHENNAI: Dravidian leaders have ridiculed believers of god, even often accusing them of practising superstition only to consolidate the grip of upper caste over the downtrodden in the name of god. But, on April 25, most of the prominent Dravidian stalwarts will be filing their nomination papers for this assembly election. The reason is April 25 is a very auspicious day; it being a muhurtham day. The Tamil calendar says April 25 is one of the very few muhurtham days in the first month of the Tamil year ‘dhurmugi’.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi, who has been at the forefront of the Dravidian movement along with its stalwarts like Periyar and C N Annadurai, will file his nomination before the Revenue Divisional Officer in Tiruvarur on Monday, while another ‘Dravidian atheist’ Vaiko will submit his papers before the RDO in Kovilpatti in Tuticorin district. The decision by Mr Karunanidhi and Mr Vaiko to file nominations on April 25 will lead to criticism that they also choose auspicious time and day to file their nomination papers despite calling themselves product of Dravidian movement.
AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa too will file her nomination papers on April 25; but then she has never been shy in proclaiming her faith in god and in auspicious days. The Chief Minister always chooses auspicious days for beginning her campaign and filing of her nomination papers. In fact, all candidates of the AIADMK and smaller outfits who are contesting the elections on ‘two leaves’ symbol will also file their nomination on April 25 between 12 pm and 1 pm. It is understood that the time has been chosen as ragukaalam falls between 7.30 am and 9.00 am and yemakandam between 10.30 am and 12 pm on Monday.
It has been a practice in the AIADMK to file nominations on the same day Ms Jayalalithaa submits her papers while contesting assembly elections. In fact, Ms Jayalalithaa had picked holes in the Karunanidhi brand of ‘Dravidianism’ saying the Dravidian movement is not an “atheist movement. “(Former CM) Anna said, ‘ondre kulam oruvane devam’, that means there is only one God. So Anna recognized the existence of God, so it doesn’t mean atheism,” Ms Jayalalithaa had told renowned TV journalist Karan Thapar in 2004 during an interview.
