A large group of people came together in Chennai on Sunday shouting slogans loudly and demanding for change. They were not holding any political flags, nor were most of them from the same ideological groups, but their demand was the same, they wanted change. The biggest demand was that IAS officer Sagayam, who is currently enquiring into the mining scam in the state should enter politics and stand for Tamil Nadu assembly elections in 2016.
For most of them, it is not just about IAS Sagayam, but also about a bigger change that they are looking forward to. “Everybody is looking for a change and I’m no exception. In Tamil Nadu, by the end of a five-year term, one gets fed up with the ruling party and goes for the alternate one. The basic idea is that we do not want DMK or AIADMK to head the next government. And even if either of the parties gets elected in the next elections, we atleast want the margin to indicate that people are looking for change,” said Lakshmanan, working with an IT firm.
People had similar ideas to share in the rally. Ramanathan, a social media marketer said, “The rally was not only about Sagayam. Sagayam is the point of focus here, so that we can start the process of change. The idea is to bring in transparency. We have been seeing failure of government in the past 20-30 years.”
For many, IAS officer Sagayam is a symbol of a corruption-free government. “Sagayam is the identity of a corruption-free government. My idea is once common man starts to assemble for a cause without any political backing, then the ruling and opposition parties will sit up and notice,” said Lakshmanan.
The organizers of the rally were expecting about 1000 people to join the rally but say that about 5000 people joined the rally requesting IAS Sagayam to join politics. “We want him to stand for elections and become the next Chief Minister. Currently, he is the only person who has good administration skills and is not corrupt,” said Rajesh, leader at Makkal Mandram.
The main organizations which carried out the rally were Makkal Mandram, Desiya Agni Chirag, Illakku and ACCEPT.
It started as an e-campaign five days ago and about 5000 people accumulated to request Sagayam to join politics. “We started having campaign exchanges online. If we can turn up 5000 people in five days so imagine what kind of turn up can happen in a few months time?”said Ramanathan.
The organizers are also planning to have such rallies in different districts in Tamil Nadu. “The aim of the rally is also to create an interest for politics among youngsters and to tell IAS officer Sagayam that there are people willing to stand behind him and vote for him”, said Omar Muchthar, head of Ilakku organization.
There are about 30 petitions which have been registered at Change.org requesting IAS U Sugayam to become the next Chief Minister.