On Friday, the minister triggered the controversy when he came to inaugurate the elephant rejuvenation camp in Theppakkadu, in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. When he along with the district collector and other officials were proceeding to the camp, Srinivasan called the boy and asked him to remove his footwear so as to enter a temple there and perform puja.
The ruling BJP has issued a whip to its MPs, asking them to ensure their presence in the House.
Unlike the regimes of Jayalalitha, Palaniswami and Karunanidhi, ministers are actually getting to make decisions on their own, with the unmentioned rider that they would be held responsible and accountable, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The contemporary problem with the BJP in Tamil Nadu is that it has been trying hard to package the DMK especially as anti-god and anti-Hinduism, and seeking it to link to Periyar and M Karunanidhi, and by extension to Stalin, the latter's son and successor to the party mantle. Their hope was to consolidate the perceived 'pro-god, pro-religion votes', which they saw returning to the fold post-MGR, post-Jayalalithaa. But no such substantial vote-bank existed even in Periyar's time, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin has given due respect to seniority in the pecking order, but has also taken into consideration the demands of individual ministries and the suitability of individuals, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Indications are that Modi will have words of encouragement for Stalin, and the meeting is likely to be much less acrimonious than critics of either would want it to be. notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Flowing from an inadequate understanding of Tamil history and politics is an urban elitist mindset that does not seem to be able to touch and feel the real angst of the larger Tamil-speaking masses, cutting across the social and economic status of the individual, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
A time has thus come when state encouragement for rural students led to empowerment of the socio-economically marginalised sections of the population. It included women. Today, with greater exposure and consequent enlightenment, it has gone beyond 'empowerment' to become 'entitlement', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Back of the envelope calculations put government expense on each of the new schemes promised by the DMK and the AIADMK at tens of thousands of crores. But then, neither party has said how they are going to also address the mounting debt burden either, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
If the Congress lost in Tamil Nadu in 1967, never to return, or the DMK and the AIADMK have kept their place in power and electoral politics since then, it owes not to their love or hatred for gods or for one religion over another. Instead, they had always been linked to performance and incumbency/anti-incumbency factors. There may be something in such constructs for Rajini's strategic team to consider, especially if the superstar is to enter direct politics by around this time next year. But then, they would need to brush up their homework more than at present, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'In both places the minority was disproportionately powerful.' 'Few people acknowledge it but at its core the Tamil Nadu problem between the Brahmins and the rest was one of power.' 'In Kashmir the Hindus held most of the land and the accompanying political power, while the Muslims were the peasants and powerless,' notes T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
The front-runner of course is party treasurer and long-serving party legislator, S Duraimurugan. A Vanniar by caste from the rival PMK-strong northern belt, Duraimurugan makes up for his weak political grounding through his debating skills in the assembly, and witty repartee, both inside and outside. Apart from caste and regional representation, personal loyalty to the leader would count even more -- but there is no death of loyal and competent candidates in the party for the post, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Udit Raj, chairman of Indian Justice Party and president of the All India Confederation of SC/ST, hailed the United Progressive Alliance government's move to pass a constitutional amendment bill for promotion of for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in both the government and private sectors. He regretted that the Bill could not be passed in the Parliament following agitation from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Muslim Brotherhood is moving towards a surprise victory in the first round of presidential elections in Egypt.
The fact remains that in the present-day Tamil Nadu, GenX and GenY voters, born and/or growing up after the end of 'Kamaraj rule' in the '60s and 'MGR rule', respectively, constitute an absolute majority of the electorate. If they still vote for a Rajini or Kamal, in preference to the established 'Dravidian voters', it is despite the MGR imagery, not because of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
V P Duraisamy's exit will in no way upset the poll scene in western Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a state where Hindu social identity continues to remain in the overarching Dravida umbrella, the 'Hindutva' political identity does not have the same, or even near-similar electoral purchase, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Egyptian Islamist parties have swept the parliamentary polls with a Muslim Brotherhood linked political group alone notching 235 seats in the 498 member House, the first polls since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak, nearly a year ago.
An Egyptian court on Saturday ordered the dissolution of the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the already banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, in yet another crushing blow to Islamists after the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi last year.
Islamist parties -- the liberal Freedom and Justice Party linked to Muslim Brotherhood and radical Salafists were cruising ahead with 65 per cent votes in the first round of Egyptian parliamentary polls, as the secular parties were trounced in regions in the first post-revolution elections.
He also slammed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for holding a meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Paris, saying it has hurt the sentiments of 'Kashmiri Muslims'.
Talking to reporters at a media briefing, 33-year-old Sreesanth said his name has been cleared by the court in a match-fixing case and he is, therefore, not worried about any Opposition attack on him regarding the controversy.
Just days after his organisation was declared a terror outfit by the US, Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, addressed a seminar at the Lahore High Court spewing venom on India and America.
Russian President Vladimir Putin today approved the nomination of First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor, allowing the former KGB officer to retain control over Kremlin even after stepping down next year
'It may take the AIADMK much more convincing than already, not only to try and bring around even the one-time Muslim voters of the party. 'More importantly, the party leadership may find it even more difficult to convince traditional party voters and cadres, who had admired Jaya's nonchalance to the party and leader ruling the Centre,' says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Which path should Muslims take politically as they have been completely marginalised?'
Ending suspense, the Bharatiya Janata Party has picked actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani to take on Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
'Whatever good he did, all his achievements were overshadowed by the perception of corruption and other things.'
A small group of ethnic Indians, mostly Hindus, held a peaceful protest in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday appealing for an end to demolition of Hindu temples by local authorities.
One of the first acts he did as minister was to issue an order enabling all Hindus, irrespective of caste or creed, to become temple priests.
Wary of how its alliance with the BJP in the past had cost it votes, the party is determined to steer clear of any harm by association, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
In Muthuvel Karunanidhi's passing, Tamil Nadu has lost the last of its Titans.
Tamil Nadu, the land of regional parties where the two Dravidian outfits have ruled the roost for long, is witnessing a few fledgling parties testing their electoral luck for the first time in the April 24 Lok Sabha elections, including Aam Aadmi Party and Indiya Jananayaka Katchi.
Today, when one Kamalahaasan launches a new political outfit, vowing to cleanse Tamil Nadu polity and political administration of corruption, mal-governance and non-governance, he is pitted not only against Rajini with his commitment to 'spiritual politics', he is also pitted against the real 'Lotus' in Tamil Nadu politics, representing the ruling BJP at the Centre, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
At least 40 people were killed and hundreds injured on Wednesday when Egyptian security forces, backed by bulldozers, stormed two makeshift camps filled with ousted President Mohammed Morsi's supporters, even as the Muslim Brotherhood claimed that 300 died in the "massacre".
Defaint supporters of Egypt's deposed president Mohammed Morsi of Friday staged defiant protest rallies against his removal, with police firing teargas at demonstrators, amidst raising fears of renewed violence as the interim government authorised police to disperse them.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
The BJP's national leadership seems to have convinced itself that with a weakened, post-Jaya AIADMK for company, they should be able to strike roots before long, and start by winning about 10-15 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances