Karuna’s 94th birthday brings together non-NDA players

As DMK president M Karunanidhi celebrated his 94th birthday at his Gopalapuram house where he has been confined to a politically inactive life since December last year due to age related ailments, his son and political heir M K Stalin on Saturday brought together an array of non-BJP, non-NDA leaders on a common platform.

The occasion turned into a subtle effort to forge a tie-up of all “secular” parties to oppose the “communal” BJP and its allies with leaders calling all patriots to join hands against divisive forces.

AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi declared on the occasion that “We will now allow the RSS and Modi to impose one idea on India. We will not stand and watch their ridiculous ideas.”

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said it was Stalin’s Russia that defeated a fascist coalition and turned towards the DMK working president M K Stalin and quipped, “So the name has a lot of responsibilities, sir.”

Stalin, who has emerged as the de facto leader of the DMK having donned the mantle of party working president earlier this year, managed to bring Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nithish Kumar, CPI national secretary D Raja, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Nationalist Congress Party founder Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien and Indian Union Muslim League chairman Kader Mohideen among others.

The occasion was not just to celebrate his father’s birthday, but also to mark the diamond jubilee of Karunanidhi’s role as a legislator. Karunanidhi entered the Assembly in 1957 and never lost an election since then. In 1984, he did not contest as he was a member of the Legislative Council (since abolished) and in 1991 he resigned shortly after being the lone DMK candidate to win the Assembly elections that year.

In his politically active years, Karunanidhi had played a key role in forging strong all-India alliances be it the National Front in 1989, the United Front in 1996 or the United Progressive Alliance in 2004.