States »SoutPosted at: Apr 4 2021 2:37PM Curtains down on high-pitched extravaganza full of sting and zing
By V. Mariappan
Chennai, Apr 4 (UNI) At last the curtains are rung down on Sunday
on the scorching campaign drama that has bordered on the absurd
now, on the contentious now and on the humorous now as Tamil Nadu
is all set to vote on Tuesday to elect members for its 16th Assembly.
The whole drama, in an overflowing measure of laughing moments,
hilarious duels, offbeat episodes, looming threats, calling bluffs
etc., feels like an entertaining potpourri amusing the long cinema-
crazy Tamil Nadu.
In the last leg of its campaign, the BJP in a show of strength held
its mega rally in Thousand Lights constituency its star candidate
Ms Khushbu Sundar is contesting from, with Chennai watching the
splendor agape with wonder on Saturday.
With the saffron party flags fluttering in dominance, pushing the
allied party AIADMK’s flags into fewer numbers, BJP leader and
Home Minister Amit Shah, flanked by Khushboo, hands unchanging
in a Namaste, probably felt amused at the weird spectacle of
artistes performing folk dances, volunteers raising sky-rending
slogans, and myriad voices shouting at the top of lungs canvassing
votes for the BJP.
“Lotus will certainly bloom in Tamil Nadu” thundered the voice
in Tamil; it’s that of none other than Khushboo. “The lady, who
said the same prophetic words and was trolled ad nauseam on the
social media, is now the Governor of Telangana,” commented a
passer-by, stepping on the sidewalk and taking the show in his
stride.
As part of this mega show in which AIADMK candidates of neighbouring
constituencies like Saidai Duraisamy, John Pandian (leader of a party
in the alliance) etc. took part, a show was apace, featuring the MGR
and Jayalalithaa look-alikes re-enacting famous duet sequences from
their good-old films set against the same music and lisping in the
same voluptuous and sensual lyrical lines.
While being shot in those iconic duets over half-a-century ago, both
leading actors with a box-office appeal would not have imagined that
their celluloid extravaganzas would become the staple of a saffron
party’s election campaign 50 years down the line.
The BJP mega show dense with crowds and with Shah and Khushboo
canvassing votes standing in an open van made the Thousand Lights,
Teynampet and Pondy Bazaar areas look like bursting at the seams,
least bothered about the disturbing irony that the preachers of
Covid-19 precautions and protocols are hardly practitioners.
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