A notable feature after Jayalalithaa’s demise is the manner in which leaders of the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) joined the ruling party supporters and the public in paying homage to her. No one can doubt that the level of personal animosity between Jayalalithaa and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi played a serious role in the State’s political culture lacking the sort of bonhomie seen between rival party leaders in other parts of the country. With the former’s departure and the impending emergence of the next generation in the DMK, there is a clear opportunity to usher in a new political culture marked by cooperation on key issues. Both the AIADMK and the DMK have a shared legacy of social reform, commitment to State autonomy and fiscal federalism, and the vigorous espousal of causes peculiar to Tamil Nadu such as backward class reservation and the abolition of entrance tests. They would be better off, as would the State be, if they dealt with these matters jointly, shedding the vexed propensity of the past to look for opportunities to score political points over each other.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is undoubtedly justified in looking for political space in Tamil Nadu. However, this should be achieved by overt political activity rather than the use of the Centre’s power to bear down on the State administration. Both the regional party and the national party are free to forge a formal or informal alliance, but the State cannot afford to lose its independent voice, and it is the AIADMK’s duty to dispel the impression that it may be arm-twisted or pressured into submission on any significant question. The ruling party in the State is now particularly vulnerable to the charge that the Sasikala family is an extra-constitutional power centre. Avoiding this impression is in the hands of Mr. Panneerselvam’s ministry.
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