M K Stalin’s Facebook wish on Vinayaka Chathurthi raises eyebrows

Karunanidhi had often ridiculed the Ganesha festival and such other Hindu events but on Friday, Stalin posted a graphic image of Lord Vinayaka on his official FB page along with the greeting message. While it is not known if he had got dad’s approval for his devotion, the post got good response from party followers as there were 2,700 likes on the page, 200 comments and a like number of shares, mostly by Stalin supporters by the same evening.

Not surprisingly, there was no dearth of critical voices. A good number of netizens wondered why the party backed Kalaignar TV attributed the special programmes aired on Friday to holiday instead of saying they were for Vinayaka Chathurthi.

Some diehard Stalin supporters on FB preached the values of secularism to justify the holy act of their thalapathi. When asked, a senior party leader quipped, “We have district functionaries taking regular Sabiramala pilgrimage. So what is surprising in this now?”

“In politics, one has to accommodate everyone. Thalapathi has emerged as the leader of the party. He has to appeal to all sections to remain there,” he reasoned out “He (Stalin) has proven that DMK is not an offshoot of Periyar’s Dravidar Kazhagam but a conglomerate of politically ambitious descendants from the Justice Party,” said Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam leader Kolathur S. Mani

He said that it’s an indication that the DMK after Karunanidhi will not have “even traces of Periyar’s progressive ideology.” The DMK circles got excited when the party for the first time hoisted the tricolour to celebrate the Independence Day.