Tamil Nadu CM Vijay’s Bowls Corruption Googly, DMK Scrambles For Cover

Political analysts in Chennai were quite taken aback by the public reception to Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s speech in the state assembly on September 7 when he made a stinging attack on the DMK leadership. He had after all only pieced together old corruption stories and narrated them. So “why make a big deal?” was their dismissive reaction. We’ll tell you what’s new about it. Clearly, the younger generation was not clued into these old stories. The beauty of what Vijay did was to string all the old deeds of DMK crimes or pearls of action together and serve them with fire and brimstone to his audience.”Ennadhu, ivlo corrupta!” is the reaction he wanted from his virtual warriors and Gen Z supporters. The DMK thought the Sarkaria Commission story was long forgotten. The party had also assumed its MISA sacrifice during the Emergency would never be pooh-poohed. They never, in their wildest imagination, expected to be called out for taking commissions in the name of a “party fund”. For the first time Vijay dared to change rules of the game. Now that Thalapathy has given them the synopsis, the faithful will add their mirch-namak and make it spicier. The mythology of DMK corruption will reach every nook and corner. Honestly, the DMK doesn’t know how to react. The AIADMK, being a pangali or partner in crime, never gave them a hard time. TVK is a very different kettle of fish. They’re out to paint the DMK as “thooya sakthi” (evil force). How is the DMK going to come out of this phase? No one in the party knows.