This happened a few years ago. It was the season of frenzied campaigning by political parties, across the country, for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. The civil war between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan army was at its peak. By then, LTTE had eliminated fellow militant groups to emerge as the sole representative for the Sri Lankan army. It is alleged that Mrs Indira Gandhi was the one who secretly supported the LTTE, trained them in various camps in Tamil Nadu, equipped them with weapons and made them fit for war. They became so powerful that they ruled a part of Sri Lanka, almost as an independent country with their own currency, radio, taxation system, judiciary and so on. They brutally killed eminent leaders. The political parties of Tamil Nadu supported the various militant groups openly. MGR supported LTTE. Karunanidhi supported EPRLF. The civil war in Sri Lanka forced thousands of Tamils to cross over to Tamil Nadu and that had caused lot of tension there.
When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, he decided to bring peace in Sri Lanka, forced LTTE to sign peace agreement and had sent Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka. Problems cropped up and IPKF was forced to fight LTTE. Sri Lankans were enjoying this fun. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991 by the (LTTE) in Tamil Nadu. Even so, there was lot of sympathy amongst the Tamilians of Sri Lanka. J Jayalalithaa, the unchallengeable leader of AIADMK took a nationalistic view and was anti – militancy.
In those days, there was an air of animosity against Sri Lankan Army Personnel in Tamil Nadu and this was expressed in many ways. For example, some Sri Lankan officers were doing a course in the premier Defence Services Staff College in Wellington but politicians across party lines, vehemently protested. This forced the Sri Lankan officers to return to their country. I also distinctly recall, when the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) returned to India, the then Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi refused to receive them and publicly used uncomplimentary words about the Indian Army. The political forces in South India were thus dead against Sri Lanka although a silent majority (people) found that LTTE should not have a place and should not be supported as they assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Most of the politicians from Tamil Nadu wanted India to attack Sri Lanka to liberate Tamil Eelam, i.e. to create a separate state for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. They quoted the example of Bangladesh as justification for their demand. They forgot the fact that we too have Border States, militancy, demand for separation and we are a part of International laws.
I suddenly got a bright idea. Why shouldn’t I myself do something in my individual capacity? Why should I wait for someone else to pick up the gauntlet? I called my HR students and explained the situation. Simultaneously, I was observing their faces to read their responses. I saw that they were equally agitated. Then I asked, “Are you keen to learn the behaviour of the people in a remote area of Tamil Nadu during the election process?” They happily jumped at the offer. One student said that it would be the greatest adventure training and exclaimed impatiently, “When are we going?”
All of them were North Indian students with a whitish complexion and the place where we were planning to go was the hottest one – the Virudunagar constituency, where Vaiko was contesting for the MP seat. The strategy was to meet the ‘Lion’ in his den, and try and defeat him by canvassing against him, as I was afraid that he would get more vicious against the Armed Forces if he gets elected to the Parliament. Vaiko was a paper tiger; all he did was make inflammatory speeches, while on ground zero, Tamilians were fighting with their might on Sri Lankan soil. If Vaiko or any other politician was really interested in the welfare of Tamilians, they could have crossed the Indian Ocean and reached Sri Lanka, which is just a couple of hours by sea. The least they could have done was to march to Delhi and stand firm like Anna Hazare, to show their support. However, it was clear that they wanted to politicise the issue; no one wanted to do anything constructive about it.
As we were moving to Virudunagar in a chartered bus, we were pleasantly surprised to know that Ma Foi’s Founder, K. Pandiarajan was contesting the election and was pitted against Congress, DMK and AIADMK. Pandiarajan represented the DMDK, founded by actor turned politician Vijyakanth
After a long time, I put on my Army uniform and led my troops - all 120 of them - out of which 100 were female warriors (girl students). As we were moving to Virudunagar in a chartered bus, we were pleasantly surprised to know that Ma Foi’s Founder, K. Pandiarajan was contesting the election and was pitted against Congress, DMK and AIADMK. Pandiarajan represented a new party – the DMDK - founded by actor turned politician Vijyakanth.
Pandiarajan, a product of XLRI and a highly successful entrepreneur is known for simplicity, humility and his quiet contribution to the society through various philanthropic activities. His humble background and scholarly outlook are adored by the people of his town. He is a rare person. He is one amongst very few people who joined politics to genuinely serve the people. Otherwise as an MD of an internationally acclaimed company he had no reason to join politics.
As Paul Coelho, in his book, `The Alchemist’ has stated, ``when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it,” -it almost seemed as if I was chosen by the Almighty to contribute my bit to voluntarily support Pandiarajan, who is known in Tamil Nadu as a Good Samaritan and philanthropist
When I landed at his house with my troops, he was shocked as well as pleasantly surprised. I told him “Sir, I have come here to campaign against Vaiko as I consider him, anti- National. Since he is your rival, naturally we have to campaign for you.’
I narrated to Pandiarajan, our strategy. I told him that I would organise street corner meetings while my students would go on street processions and rallies. He smiled. We began our campaign the very next day. I began to address street corner meetings, exposing Vaiko, with a vehement and challenging tone. We caught the attention of the media. More than me, it is my students
The students were very excitedly engaged and were thoroughly enjoying every bit of their action, although they were not in a position to converse with the locals, as the villagers were well-versed only in the local language. Every villager though was yearning to spend time with the students as they were in awe of these `foreign looking’ youngsters. The attention which these students got from the media and TV channels triggered off participation by students of other local colleges, who too converged on streets to campaign for Pandiarajan in the Virudunagar constituency. Support for Pandiarajan, was increasing day by day. The tyrant Vaiko was definitely losing ground from his own constituency, which was our objective. However, DMK too was losing ground.
Why shouldn’t I myself do something in my individual capacity? Why should I wait for someone else to pick up the gauntlet? I believe, each one of us must contribute our bit to our society in a way that is possible for us by taking up an issue that is close to our hearts.
Mu. Ka. Azhagiri, the elder son of the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.Karunanidhi, was in charge of the constituency. Seeing all this hullabaloo taking place in the media, Azhagiri landed in Virudunagar, and was put up in a hotel which was next to mine. He summoned the Collector and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and demanded to know who the young `foreigners’ were. He asked them to take stern action against them. The Collector met me at midnight, in my hotel room. He questioned me about my presence and that of the students. He bluntly told me, ``listen, you are directly attacking Vaiko in abusive language. We have the audio recordings of all your speeches with us. You are causing tension in the area. Your students have not come here to learn, but to campaign, so tomorrow at 10 am, we will arrest you, knowing the purpose for which you are here. I am leaving now. I hope you have got the message.’’
Of course I envisioned that arrest is imminent. I immediately called the crisis managing committee of students for a meeting. The students were so deeply involved with the campaign that they were quite excited about their getting arrested too, but I couldn’t have agreed with them. So I said, let us see the sunrise and sunset in Kanyakumari. As we had a hired bus with us, we moved at midnight and reached the Kanyakumari seashore to witness the sunrise.
I believe, the patriotism of this country can be seen in these kind of situations. The students were spending heavily on this mission but were happy that they were doing it to defeat an anti-national leader, a person who was allegedly on the payroll of the LTTE. The incident also gave an opportunity for us to stand by a corporate leader who was contesting the election. Pandiarajan was neither told that we were going there, nor was he informed about our departure. We came, we did our job and we left. The election results proved that we had achieved our mission as Vaiko lost the election with miserable margins. DMK too lost the election. Pandiarajan got the highest number of votes amongst his party men in the election, but unfortunately lost. The Congress, which seemed nowhere, won the election quietly.
Since then, Vaiko has never won any election except for a Panchayat election in which his brother won from his own village. I believe, each one of us must contribute our bit to our society in a way that is possible for us by taking up an issue that is close to our hearts. I urge the readers to put the following philosophy in practice in their daily lives: `One tree can start a forest; one smile can begin a friendship; one hand can lift a soul; one word can frame the goal; one candle can wipe out darkness; one laugh can conquer gloom; one hope can raise our spirits; one touch can show you care; one ACTION can make a difference........ Be any ONE of that today.
Dr (Col.) A. BAlASUBRANANIAN
editor-in-chief
