Tamil Nadu

What will it take for AIADMK to dump its banner and flagpole culture?

Can the AIADMK, for heavens sake, eschew its pathetic culture of erecting its banners and flagposts everytime it has a party event or a family function of a party member? Because its red and black flags are increasingly getting soaked in the blood of the citizens of Tamil Nadu, pushing their grieving families into a dark abyss. 

Ragu in Coimbatore, Subasree in Chennai and now Rajeswari alias Anuradha in Coimbatore again. The 30-year-old was seriously injured when she reportedly tried to avoid a falling AIADMK flagpole and came under the wheel of a lorry on Monday. The flagpoles bearing the AIADMK flag had been planted on the side of the road. While some said they had been put up to greet Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami who was travelling from Coimbatore to Salem, another version attributed the flagposts to a family function  hosted by a local AIADMK party member. 

The incident occurred on the busy Avinashi Road around 9 am on Monday when Rajeswari was on her way to her work place at a hotel where she is employed in the Accounts section. When she reacted to the fall of the flagpole at the nth moment, she lost balance. The lorry ran over her legs. She was rushed to hospital where she underwent a surgery that lasted over seven hours. Rajeswari’s one leg has been fractured while nerves have been badly affected in the other. 

Like the police does in such cases, the Coimbatore police has filed an FIR against the lorry driver. That is also because the police deny the flagpost resulted in the accident and have blamed it on the lorry driver’s negligence. Another argument put forth is that the flags were erected on the extreme side of the road space (pic below). The Hindu reports that after the incident, all the flagposts in the area were removed. That begs the question – if the flagposts were not the reason for the accident, why were they removed in a hurry? 

Coincidentally, the accident happened on the same day that Jayagopal, whose son’s wedding banners caused the death of Subasree in September, was granted bail. He was asked to deposit Rs 50000 by the court for treatment of poor patients. 

After Subasree’s death, most filmstars and political parties promised not to put up banners and flagposts. The question that needs to be asked if why is the AIADMK so reluctant to fall in line. How does the sight of the flags and banners boost the morale of the CM who is passing by or that of the cadre? 

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