Tamil Nadu: Vck Hosts Major Women’s Conference to Combat Substance Abuse

Chennai: A massive stage is set with an elevation of eight feet and over 50,000 chairs have been laid out for the audience in the 40 acre empty land for the much-publicized women’s conference of the VCK to eradicate drugs and liquor, to be held from 3.00 pm on Wednesday at Ulundurpet in Kallakurichi district.

The open-air conference is expected to draw close to a lakh women from all over the State and listen to an august line up of political and other leaders. Among the women speakers listed for the event are AIDWA’s U Vasuki (CPM), NFIW’s Annie Raja (CPI), Muthulakshmi Veerappan of the Tamilaga Valvurimai Katchi, Congress MP R Sudha and many others from the VCK and other parties.

Besides DMK leaders R S Bharathi and T K S Elangovan, the head of the Ayya Vaikuntar movement Bala Prajathipathi Adigal and all top leaders of the VCK will be addressing the meeting to be presided over by the VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan.

It was while promoting the conference by inviting all those who believed in temperance irrespective of party affiliation by organizing a series of press conferences at various places in September that Tirumavalavan openly solicited the presence of AIADMK leaders at the event and launching a scathing attack on it electoral ally, the ruling DMK, accusing it of failing to implement total prohibition in the State.

In a long drawn drama that unfolded at a time when Chief Minister M K Stalin was on an official tour of the USA, Thirumavalavan’s open statement that he was not bothered about the alliance and was only concerned about the issue at hand, bringing in prohibition in the State, triggered speculations that there could be a political realignment and the VCK might walk out of the DMK-led coalition in the State.

But when an old speech of Thirumavalvan making a demand for share in power was put out in a social media account, even the AIADMK, which was initially responding positively, balked at the idea of a political alignment with VCK. Subsequently with the Chief Minister returning to Chennai, VCK leaders called on him and made peace with him.

The aggressive stand taken by Thirumavalavan when the Chief Minister was in the US, insisting on bringing in total prohibition in the State, changed after the meeting into a demand for a national wide temperance policy.

Stalin even nominated Bharathi and Elangovan to attend the conference on behalf of the DMK, thus forcing the AIADMK to beat a hasty retreat from getting closer to the VCK. Subsequently Thirumavalvan attended the DMK’s Diamond Jubilee celebration and also pledged his party support to the ruling dispensation, thus firming up the alliance.