Titled “pidar kondam singamey pesu” (Let the mane sporting lion sing), Vairamuthu, in the less than two-minute video, is seen reciting his sixteen-line (two-octet) poem to Karunanidhi, all throughout asking him to speak. The lyricist, who shares a close rapport with the DMK chief, got his wish fulfilled instantly as a gleeful Karunanidhi was seen murmuring for a few seconds from minute 1:51 in the video, a visual none had beheld since late 2016 when Karunanidhi last spoke. 

Holding the nonagenarian’s hand, Vairamuthu asks Karunanidhi to use his “sudarkonda Tamilai kondu” (fiery Tamil) to stop the spread of the retrograde ideas in the state, which is plagued by issues. “I will not hear anything. Neither vedas, nor the playing of the harp or the flute; but I only want to hear the voice which erupts like lava when Tamil is under threat.” 

The video comes close on the heels of Karunanidhi ‘playing’ cricket with his great grandson in the company of his daughters Selvi and Tamilarasu. The latest poem reciting video would have gladdened the cadre more considering that at least a couple of meetings of district secretaries have ended without Karunanidhi attending it. Stalin had put the onus on doctors treating Karunanidhi every time the issue of his father making a public appearance or speaking in public arises.