Chennai: “Of the presents you obtained out of your cadres in your seventieth birthday, which one is closest to your coronary heart?” an unseen male voice asks M.Ok.Stalin in Tamil.
When the digicam pans to him, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief makes a present of straightening a sheaf of papers. Then, he appears to be like into the digicam, smiles, and says: “Ungalil Oruvan ane yenne thailavar aga terntetu azhaga parthadai vida periya parisu irruka muduyuma (Can there be a much bigger prize than you electing me, one among you, as your chief)?”
This alternate was a part of the most recent episode of Stalin’s Ungalil Oruvan-Bathilgal (one amongst you solutions), a question-and-answer present aired usually on the YouTube channels of the DMK and Stalin. The platform is a method for the CM to handle “present affairs and social justice-related matters”, in line with sources from the celebration.
Unaglil Oruvan (one amongst you) can also be the identify of Stalin’s autobiography, which Congress chief Rahul Gandhi launched in March 2022.
Initiated, in line with celebration sources, in 2013, the programme has Stalin, clad in his signature veshti and white shirt, answering a set of questions compiled by the DMK and the Chief Minister’s Workplace.
Whereas the DMK is unwilling to expose particulars concerning the origins of the questions or these concerned with the programme, citing confidentiality, celebration spokesperson A. Saravanan informed ThePrint that Ungalil Oruvan-Bathilgal helps rally the celebration’s cadres.
“These interactions give the boldness that the management by no means strays away from our ideological battles,” he stated. “That is a method of staying in contact and always reassuring the cadres that the management is with them.”
The opposition, in the meantime, has alleged that Stalin is making an attempt to emulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann ki Baat — a month-to-month radio broadcast that sees the PM deal with a bunch of points, from farmer’s issues to the federal government’s schemes.
“Travelling by prepare, sudden inspections, and a programme much like Mann ki Baat all have clear traits of PM Modi’s type of governance,” stated All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) spokesperson Kovai Sathyan. He was referring to Stalin’s 143-km prepare trip to Vellore in February and his shock go to to a faculty to watch the meals served there.
Political analysts, nonetheless, say Stalin’s present is a instrument to assist him join with the general public.
“The principle intention of this interplay is for the CM to be near the individuals,” stated A. Ayyanathan, a Chennai-based senior political analyst. This, he added, was a departure from the same old apply of celebration leaders limiting their interactions with the general public to election canvassing.
“Think about the affect on the particular person whose query will get answered (within the programme),” Ayyanathan stated.
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‘Bridging gaps’, with the odd potshot
Analysts declare that since Stalin took the CM’s chair in 2021, he has been making an attempt to bridge the hole with the lots.
Aazhi Senthilnathan, one other Chennai-based political analyst, stated Stalin’s outreach makes an attempt set up him as a “individuals’s CM”, not like his predecessors J.Jayalalithaa and even his personal father, M Karunanidhi.
A current instance, in line with Senthilnathan, is Stalin’s “area visits” throughout 4 districts earlier this 12 months. The present, he added, additionally represents an try to interact with the general public. Final month, for example, Stalin addressed the rumoured assaults on migrant staff within the state and stated the group was protected in Tamil Nadu.
Nonetheless, Stalin has additionally used the present to hit out at opponents. In February, for example, he took a potshot at Narendra Modi, saying he had learnt the “artwork” of talking for hours with out answering from the PM. In March, he jibed at Governor R.N. Ravi, with whom he has been at loggerheads over the “stalling” of assorted payments. Throughout the present, Stalin stated “governors solely have a mouth and no ears”.
Format of the present, echoes of Karunanidhi
Usually in Ungalil Oruvan-Bathilgal, an unseen male or a feminine voice reads out a query, which Stalin finally solutions.
The matters touched upon within the ‘Q&A’ are printed on social media as #UngalilOruvanAnswers.
Regardless of the opposition AIADMK’s allegations that Ungalil Oruvan was modelled after Modi’s Mann Ki Baat, DMK sources declare that the programme had, in truth, begun in 2013.
Notably, Stalin’s father, who was CM for 5 phrases, additionally made makes an attempt to determine a join with celebration cadres and the general public. From 1968 till his demise in 2018, ‘Kalaignar’ Karunanidhi usually wrote letters to the celebration’s cadre. Known as Udanpirapu Kaditham (letter to brethren), Karunanidhi wrote his views on numerous points within the DMK mouthpiece Murosoli and Kalaignar TV.
A compendium of 4,041 letters was printed in 54 elements in September 2022.
Talking to ThePrint on situation of anonymity, a DMK functionary stated Ungalil Oruvan Bathilgal is an extension of Karunanidhi’s Udanpirapu Kaditham.
Senthilnathan identified that even when the present is pushed by the DMK, Stalin’s voice emerges distinctly.
“These question-answer periods are largely addressed within the capability of the CM of Tamil Nadu and never as DMK celebration chief and that’s evident from his replies,” he stated.
DMK ‘understands energy of media’
Amid advancing expertise and rising connectivity, reveals similar to Ungalil Oruvan Bathilgal could be an efficient method for a celebration to espouse views on pertinent points to voters, say analysts.
In keeping with Senthilnathan, the DMK has at all times been a celebration that understood the facility of the media.
“The DMK as a celebration has been a media-centric celebration,” he stated. “Any new media they usually knew how one can use it, be it cinema, newspapers, or regional TV channels. They’re at all times investing within the media.”
In keeping with Ayyanathan, Ungalil Oruvan Bathilgal stands aside within the state due to Stalin’s distinctive messaging.
“His message is obvious, I’ll work as ungalil oruvan (one among you). He has been doing this and never forgetting the dedication (to the individuals), which no different leaders are doing as we speak,” he added.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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