Victory gives too many lessons for the DMK

Though the DMK has scraped through in Vellore , which was managed more as a by-election than a regular one by the two Dravidian majors, the principal opposition party has lots of lessons to learn from it.

Politically, the slender victory margin of 8,141 votes has sounded another alarm to the DMK, which was given a reality check even in the 22 seat Assembly bypoll, which stabilised the AIADMK regime and delayed Stalin’s chief ministerial hopes by anothertwo years.

Stalin and his colleagues must be given due credit for winning Vellore LS seat notwithstanding the sharp decline in victory margin from a few lakhs to a little over 8,000 votes in over a couple months. But, it was a grim reminder to the DMK that it could not write off the AIADMK.

Even DMK insiders were not averse to privately admitting that it was a hard-fought victory.

That the two parties were only divided by a meagre 0.8 per cent votes or rather the AIADMK has recovered from its 26 per cent decline in poll percentage in a little over two months in Vellore by keeping the BJP away was a piece of statistics the DMK cannot be proud of. Conceding that minorities were instrumental in tilting the election in their favour, a DMK senior said they should be more committed to their secular and progressive principles to win the public mandate.

“If the AIADMK had suffered for supporting Article 370 abrogation and criminalisation of triple talaq, it should also apply to us for supporting NIA Bill. Vaniyambadi which witnessed sluggish voting till noon saw rise in voter turnout after Amit Shah tabled the bill to scrap Article 370,” the DMK leader reasoned, pointing to the 22,000 lead in the seat which has taken them past the finishing line.

“AIADMK has led us in three seats, including KV Kuppam which is Duraimurugan’s turf. They have edged past us in Gudiyattam which we won a few months ago. But for Vaniyambadi, the result would have been different,” a district secretary requesting anonymity opined, adding that the AIADMK without BJP was not as weak as they had thought.