Vikatan asks the moot question, are TN's CM candidates healthy?

We’ve all been thinking about this, some of us may have even voiced it. But it took Vikatan’s P. Thirumavelan’s sharp, witty and comical satire to hit the nail on the head! In just over four minutes, the senior journalist took on the one question that many in Tamil Nadu, including the mainstream media, are fearful to ask – Are CM candidates healthy enough to run the state?

He begins the first episode of ‘TN Mirror with Thirumavelan’ with an opening punch – “We don’t know if we’re in the midst of a state election or a health election.” And that’s simply because of the three chief ministerial candidates that are in the electoral race. First, there’s 93-year-old DMK President Karunanidhi, who “is unable to get up,” then there’s Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa, who “is unable to stand up,” and finally there’s DMDK Chief Vijayakant, who “is unable to walk,” remarks Thirumavelan dryly.

The short clip captures the sorry state of affairs in Tamil Nadu and addresses the fact that politics is far from being in the pink of health. Yes, growing old and falling sick are a part of life, but he explains that only in Tamil Nadu will you see political rivals use the other’s failing health to further their own agenda. In a quick roundup of political nastiness between the Dravidian leaders, he says, MGR was quick to call Karunanidhi “pottai kannu” (bad eyes in English) and “blind” when he met with a road accident that caused injury to his eye.  The DMK however had their chance to hit back calling MGR “dumb” when he fell sick and was unable to talk, he observes.

This tradition of crude jokes carried on when MGR’s successor Jayalalaithaa took over as well. While her supporters called Karunanidhi a “cripple” and a “pushcart” when he began using a wheelchair, Thirumavelan notes that the harshest words came from Jayalalithaa herself, who said the DMK leader was “packed into a plane like a dirty laundry bundle.” But for all the tasteless humour, the journalist minces no words to describe Jayalalithaa’s present condition, where “she is unable to even stand, much less walk.”

Thirumavelan doesn’t spare ‘Captain’ either, stating that everything about Vijayakanth is shrouded in secrecy including his frequent visits to Singapore and Mumbai. In reference to Captain’s incoherent speeches, he sarcastically comments, “Is Vijayakanth talking, acting, laughing or crying? No one seems to know,” as visuals of the DMDK leader play out on screen.

In his concluding words, he says that all three CM candidates don’t have any bodily illness but are sick at heart. He mocks their desperation to sit in the Chief Minister’s chair but points out that they don’t want to work once they are there. As a parting shot, Thirumavelan wonders, “Now are you going to elect a Chief Minister or give them a health check up?”  

Watch the full video here.