Chennai: Even before warming up amid the tugs and pulls of alliance parleys, the campaign for the May 16 election in Tamil Nadu hit rock bottom, or so it seems.
The author of this sad soliloquy is none other than the ‘unpredictably emotional’ MDMK general secretary Vaiko who, on Wednesday, advocated that the DMK chief M. Karunanidhi could practise “the oldest profession in the world”.
He later issued an apology saying he meant no disrespect to his political mentor, but that was hardly convincing. The Tamil statement reached the newsrooms at about 7.50 pm, more than five hours after he made that ‘oldest profession’ prescription during a press conference at his party headquarters in the afternoon.
“When I said shifting parties after taking money has been a dirty job just like the oldest profession in the world, I did not refer to Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) or his family. I swear this on my late mother,” Vaiko said.
It was actually a poor apology to the apparent slander that he had slung at the DMK president, actually telling him he could “well turn to the oldest profession in the world”.
Irrespective of his clarification, it is clear that when he recommended the ‘oldest profession’ to Karunanidhi, he was not referring to weavers, farmers, traders or anything else.
“I am talking about another profession, the most famous that is practised across the world even from the days of the earliest man. Many are even demanding that it could be legalised; they could practise that. Kalaignar can do it, they could also do it”, Vaiko had said at his explosive press conference.
Vaiko’s pathetic attempt to bury such slander under a poorly drafted apology, claiming that he had spoken about shifting loyalties for money, would not hold water since there has been no demand from any quarter to make this — changing political colours for money — legal!
The ‘oldest profession’ prescription and the apology for an apology have caused a furore in the political corridors. DMK spokesman TKS Elangovan called Vaiko “a mentally disturbed person” who betrayed “Kalaignar (Karun-anidhi) who created him (politically).
