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Hans India
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
TN remains an enigma for the saffron lobby
As NDA 3.0 completes its first anniversary today, the perennially in election mode apparatus of the alliance must already be working overtime for the slate for the later part of the year. Bihar, one of the states readying for the Assembly elections, is slowly but surely seeing changes, ostensibly in favour of an overwhelming saffron win at present. Whatever that may be, the 2026 elections must be making the war rooms of various political parties working with a different game plan as it is where the INDIA bloc sees its chances. Tamil Nadu, by this time, next year would have had a new government in place. The question is, which party will get to run the state which is now seeing aggressive posturing by NDA and counter attacks by the DMK government. Once a formal alliance was sealed by the Centre with the principal Opposition party and old ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the BJP must have felt relieved that it has made the first move, well. Given that the MGR-founded party is facing an identity and existential crisis in its 53rd year of existence, the cobbling together of the alliance with smaller parties being wooed establishes the fact that the saffron party is happy to ride piggyback on the Dravidian big brother this time around. Amit Shah's latest statement that the new alliance will sweep the 2026 polls has not entirely been rejected by the political pundits and as expected, pooh poohed by the DMK leaders. Its top-rung icons say that if the Dravidian ideology resonates with the people, it is nigh impossible for the BJP to set its foot in Tamil Nadu. While a few still consider the earlier elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as a 'lost opportunity' for the BJP to have made inroads into the Tamil psyche, the highly unpopular way the administration has gone about its business has made the average public take a critical look at the goings-on in the State. Dynastic politics – that of Udayanidhi being groomed to take over from the present CM, M K Stalin - is still being helplessly accepted by the party machinery and followers as a 'natural' progression of the first family in retaining power. What is not left unnoticed is the increased presence of Karunanidhi's daughter and the CM's step-sister Kanimozhi in the central scheme of things, Stalin's blow hot blow cold with Modi government and the stench of corruption in the governance of the State which has been allowed to grow (the TASMAC case, for one), for a surgical strike later by the central machinery, closer to the poll dates. It is surely a work in progress for the non-DMK formation, but it is a known fact that the DMK has till date never managed a second successive stint in office. Will they break the jinx this time or will a currently docile anti-DMK alliance spring a surprise? If it is the final chance for the AIADMK to retain its political relevance, it is also the best-ever opportunity for the BJP in nearly five decades to make its presence felt in the state's corridors of power. Whether they can make or mar will be in the hands of the Tamil electorate.
Hindustan Times
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
NEET dress row: AIADMK slams Tamil Nadu govt, Congress calls it ‘Absurd'
AIADMK National Spokesperson Kovai Sathyan on Sunday condemned the "high-handedness" of the DMK led Tamil Nadu government after reports that students were barred from entering their National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination centre for failing to comply with the "dress code" "We strongly condemn this high-handedness on the dress code in the name of whatever laws they have on hand, which is highly condemnable. Mr Udayanidhi, the prince, should hang his head in shame," the AIADMK leader said. "This is the 4th consecutive year that the NEET examination is happening in Tamil Nadu. Before 2021, he promised that the NEET would be abolished in Tamil Nadu if voted to power. I think the student should question him... Any high-handedness toward the students coming to write the examination is highly condemnable. I think there have to be some reasonable guidelines (regarding dress code)." Congress leader Karti P Chidambaram took to his X and said, "Most ridiculous and absurd dress code regulations", tagging the National Testing Agency, which conducts the NEET Exams. He attached a video in which authorities were seen cutting off buttons apparently metal ones of students, including girls were seen cutting off buttons from the clothes and Reportedly, two girl students were barred from entering their NEET examination centre in Tamil Nadu's Tiruppur on Sunday due to the presence of metal buttons on their attire. However, according to reports, a policewoman came to the rescue of a girl student by taking her to a nearby shop on her two-wheeler so that she could purchase a new dress and take her exam.
