TIRUCHY: Tiruchy, frequently referred to as the ‘turning point’ in State politics, has been and continues to be a favourite and most preferred destination among all political parties to organise conferences and launch election campaigns for several decades. As it has hosted crucial conferences that have yielded electoral victories, the parties never miss visiting the city during every major event.
Particularly for DMK, the sentiment attached to Tiruchy has run strong. During its 2nd state conference held in Tiruchy in 1956, the party took a major decision to enter electoral politics. An opinion poll was conducted on contesting in the election. As many as 56,942 cadres favoured the electoral politics, and that’s how DMK took the plunge and contested the election. Despite fetching remarkable seats, DMK secured a comfortable number of seats in the 1967 elections and formed the government for the first time under the leadership of party founder CN Annadurai.
After his demise in 1969, DMK organised a conference in Tiruchy, which received a huge reception. Five major slogans, including state autonomy, anti-Hindi imposition and social justice, were launched, which continue to be the party’s ideological foundation to date. In 1990, it organised another conference in Mannarpuram Defence land, which the party declared as the ‘turning point’ conference.
According to DMK senior cadres, the party and Tiruchy are intact as the cadres and the party. “Every major event for DMK would centre around Tiruchy only. Of 12 state conferences organised by the party, six were held in Tiruchy. DMK achieved several electoral successes after the Tiruchy conference. After the campaign ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls was organised in Tiruchy, DMK formed a government with an absolute majority. This would repeat in the upcoming assembly polls,” a senior party functionary said.
The other Dravidian major AIADMK too considers Tiruchy as an important political nerve centre and has held many of its conferences and important campaign rallies in the city, right from the time the then Chief Minister MG Ramachandran formed the party.
MGR even made every possible attempt to make Tiruchy, the second capital of the State, which has still been echoed by several major political parties, including DMK leaders.
Besides MGR, the then Chief
Minister J Jayalalithaa’s most preferred place was Tiruchy.
The people revered her as the daughter of Srirangam, and she always had a special place for Tiruchy. She even contested from Srirangam and won with a huge margin. She has also addressed several campaign rallies and public meetings in several spots in Tiruchy.
Not only for these two Dravidian majors, but all other State parties have an affinity towards Tiruchy. When DMDK founder Vaiko left DMK in 1993, he organised the first meeting of like-minded cadres in Tiruchy on December 25, 1993, and it was considered to be the first general body meeting of MDMK, paving the way for the official launch of the party on May 6, 1994.
“It was indeed the Tiruchy sentiment that made up Vaiko to convene the first general body meeting in the city and thereafter, around five state conferences and innumerable public gatherings have been organised here,” said Vellamandi Somu, MDMK secretary for Tiruchy district.
Somu recalled that as Vaiko was devoted towards Tiruchy, his son Durai Vaiko contested from here and became the MP of Tiruchy constituency. It is worth noting that Durai Vaiko has been bringing several Central projects.
The Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) (TMC-M) party was relaunched by GK Vasan in 2014 after splitting from Congress. TTV Dhinakaran’s AMMK party organised its meeting in Tiruchy, while the left parties had also had their State sessions in Tiruchy.
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi held its ‘Vellum Jananayagam’ conference in Tiruchy in 2024, which saw a huge gathering. Naam Tamilar Katchi has also held a state conference in Tiruchy. Similarly, the newbie Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam kick-started its first political campaign from Tiruchy.
Even the public gathering ahead of the 2021 assembly polls was organised in Tiruchy, and the DMK formed a government with an absolute majority. This would repeat in the upcoming assembly polls – A senior party functionary