AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Credit: PTI Photo
Titles for political leaders and film stars are quite common in Tamil Nadu. Joining the long list of political leaders with titles is former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami.
On Sunday, at the AIADMK’s state-level conference, Palaniswami was given the title 'Puratchi Tamizhar' (Revolutionary Tamil), following the footsteps of his seniors in the party – M G Ramachandran who was known as 'Puratchi Thalaivar' (Revolutionary Leader) and J Jayalalithaa as 'Puratchi Thalaivi'.
In the DMK too, the party’s founder C N Annadurai got the title 'Arignar' (scholar), while M Karunanidhi was known as 'Kalaignar' (artiste), and M K Stalin as 'Thalapathy' (commander).
Palaniswami, who was considered a lightweight when he was elected as leader of the AIADMK legislature party in 2017 courtesy V K Sasikala, emerged as a leader in his own right by steering the party for the past six years.
The title, according to party insiders, was given to him to recognise his role in keeping the AIADMK “united” even as it faced several upheavals since 2016 following the death of J Jayalalithaa.
Every political leader and most actors in the state have a title attached to them and it is used to address them by their supporters.
However, the title given for Palaniswami has come under severe criticism from his ex-colleagues O Panneerselvam and T T V Dhinakaran, who were expelled by the AIADMK in 2022 and 2017 respectively. While Dhinakaran said Palaniswami can at best be known as a “betrayer Tamil” for he “betrayed” everyone who was responsible for his ascension, the OPS camp mocked him saying he cannot even pronounce Tamil properly.
“He is not a revolutionary Tamil. He is not known for any revolution, but only for betrayal. He should be called a 'Tamil betrayer',” Dhinakaran told reporters on Monday.
Meanwhile, the OPS camp launched a newspaper named ‘Namadhu Puratchi Thondan’ (Our Revolutionary Cadre) to propagate their opinions and views to cadres. The AIADMK’s mouthpiece is known as 'Namadhu Puratchi Thalaivi Amma' after 'Namadhu MGR', which was founded by Jayalalithaa, was taken over by the Sasikala family.