Coimbatore, Dec. 3
A death, outrage on social media, anger in the form of a painting on the road, a High Court order, and if this was not enough, there was the rain. But all this did not in any way make a dent in the arrangements that the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) made for the mammoth centenary celebrations of former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR).
Though the run-up to the actual day was not very pleasant and favourable for the AIADMK, December 3 turned out to be a win-win day for them. It began with the rain Gods taking a break and the sun coming out to smile on the celebrations. That the people of Coimbatore were not smiling is a different story.
Though the scheduled first event for the day was the inauguration of the photography exhibition showcasing the life and work of late MGR, another more interesting event happened at the same time. This was the unveiling of three statues at the Anna Statue junction on Avinashi Road - the renovated Anna statue, statue of MGR and J. Jayalalithaa.
It is said that this unveiling was not made out to be a grand event because the installing of the two new statues were in blatant violation of the Supreme Court ruling that “State Government shall not grant any permission for installation of any statue or construction of any structure in public roads, pavements, sideways and other public utility places”.
Earlier, scores of Ministers, former Ministers and MLAs flew down for the function, no doubt using tax payers’ money. One does not have to be a genius in mathematics to guess the amount of money that would have been spent for their travel, accommodation and transport.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy had folklore artists performing all along his way to the venue VOC Park grounds on Avinashi Road. The roads directly leading to the venue became literally ‘motor-free’, while all highway traffic from Neelambur was diverted to Trichy Road. The difficulties, people commuting to the airport, hospitals, bus stands and railway stations, would have encountered is anyone’s guess.
If this was not enough, social media was rife with photographs showing school and college buses being used to transport party cadre to the venue. All the preparations have been riding high on blatant misuse and violations. From the illegal scaffoldings, hoarding, banners and flex boards that have caused immense nuisance to pedestrians and motorists, to the almost standstill of Government machinery for almost a week, law and order had been thrown to the winds.
Following a HC order on November 30 there was a letter from the Coimbatore City Corporation Commissioner (CCMC) Dr. K. Vijayakarthikeyan to remove all hoardings and banners. But except the scaffolding made for the arch that software engineer Ragupathy is alleged to have rammed into, not a single banner came down. In fact, several new ones sprouted on Friday and Saturday too.
While a lot of politics is being played out to pass the buck to either Party, it cannot be denied that the whole celebration is based on many violations, which could not have been possible without the support of the local administration. What will happen after the celebrations no one knows, but the violations are being soft-pedalled by the AIADMK, including the CM.
Despite all this, the celebrations took off amid much fanfare with the CM being welcomed to the stage with the song from Mersel “Aalaporan Thamizhan Ulagam Ellame”.
