Chennai : Call it wrong timing or whatever. Barely two days after DMK president M Karunanidhi, basking in the glory of netting over two lakh followers for his Facebook page, promised to be more active on social media, his son and party heir-apparent M K Stalin was forced to disown a festive greeting on social media network.
On Ganesh Chaturthi day, Stalin’s official Facebook page had a photograph of Lord Ganpati (called Vinayaka in Tamil Nadu) with a message “Greetings to all on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi.”
While is it nothing unusual for political leaders to greet people on festive occasions, the DMK, which has its moorings in the Dravidian movement’s atheistic ideology, has never extended greetings on Hindu festivals such as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Deepavali. Karunanidhi usually wishes people only on Pongal day, which is considered as a farmer’s festival.
In this backdrop, Stalin’s followers on Facebook were taken aback by his greetings and posted derisive comments. Reactions such as “Is the DMK still a Dravidian party?” and “What right do you have to utter the name of Periyar who had broken Vinayaka idols (as part of the self-respect movement campaign)” were seen liberally on social media.
One post by Sellampillai Rajkumar, was sharp. He recalled that the DMK founder C N Annadurai had said that “We won’t either break idols of Pillaiyar (Lord Ganesh) or break coconuts for Pillaiyar”. He added, “But Stalin’s greetings signals a further fall for the DMK.”
Taken aback by the salvos questioning the DMK’s very own ideological mornings, the party on Sunday issued a statement claiming that Stalin had not approved of the controversial post on Facebook. The statement claimed, “There is a comment in Stalin’s Facebook page extending greetings to people on Vinayaka Chaturthi. This does not have the approval of Stalin. Those handling his Facebook page had posted the greetings out of enthusiasm.”
However, the claim did not cut ice with many, who felt that Stalin had indeed committed a faux pas.