CHENNAI: Accolades coming Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s way from a plethora of Tamil groups for passing an Assembly resolution against the Sri Lankan government has not just given a new twist to the politics of language in the State but become a portent of DMK chief M Karunanidhi losing his self-proclaimed title as ‘leader of world Tamils’.Whether or not in power, Karunanidhi has always wanted himself to be recognised as the one and only leader of Tamils more than anything else. In fact, at the World Classical Tamil conference in June 2010 at Coimbatore, he ensured that he was described as the ‘leader of world Tamils’ by senior Tamil scholar K Sivathamby himself.The fact that he cherished the title he had appropriated for himself was evident even in his political rhetoric as has often drifted into self-praise over his love for the Tamil people and the language. In fact, as the one who ushered in the ‘title culture’ in the State, where most politicians are addressed by their titles and not their names, he earned too many sobriquets over the years when he sought to project himself as the sole saviour, protector and guardian of Tamil culture and language.But now, in one stroke, Jayalalithaa has knocked him off the high pedestal by gaining acceptability as a leader whose heart really beats for the Tamils by passing the resolution demanding economic sanctions against the Sri Lankan government and invoking of war crime charges against those responsible for the excess committed in the war against the LTTE.All the Tamil groups that were spearheading a movement - initially to stop Eelam IV war in 2009, then to bring succour to the post-war internally displaced Tamils and finally trying to bring Sri Lankan president Rajapaksa and his men to book for war crimes - were disillusioned that a government headed by Karunanidhi did not support their cause. Even if the groups had expressed their anger and animosity against the Congress openly during the elections - both in 2009 and in 2011 - they always hoped that Karunanidhi would at least sympathise with them in their cause. But that never happened with the DMK walking a political tightrope, reluctant to antoganise ally Congress. But after the Assembly passed the resolution, the same Tamil groups are vying with one another to praise Jayalalithaa. Organisations like actor Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam and the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam, which are known for their penchant to make people rally around the Tamil identity, have paid enconmiums to Jayalalithaa. Apart from the distinctly Tamil groups, even many other organisations like the fishermen’s federations have hailed Jayalalithaa as the ‘true Tamilian’. One poster put up by the all India federation of fishermen’s associations thanked the ‘true Tamilian’ Jayalalithaa for also exposing the anti-Tamil race attitude of Karunanidhi.To put it otherwise, since various Tamil groups see Jayalalithaa as the only leader of Tamil cause, Karunanidhi has lost his relevance in the scheme of Tamil language politics.
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