The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : In Gummidipoondi, a walking election advertisement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 06, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

In Gummidipoondi, a walking election advertisement

K.T. Sangameswaran

Kumaran from Gobichettipalayam says, "my only aim is that Amma should win the elections and I will not mind walking any distance for that."

P. Kumaran, an AIADMK sympathiser from Gobichettipalayam, who has turned his body into a campaign platform for the Gummidipoondi byelection . — Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

GUMMIDIPOONDI: Call him a walking symbol: he literally embodies the party he owes allegiance to.

Distance hardly deters him from completing his mission — to woo voters — during elections wherever they are held.

P. Kumaran from Gobichettipalayam in Erode district is a walking advertisement for the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam.

Holding aloft an AIADMK flag, he was seen walking alone on Satyavedu Road in the Gummidipoondi Assembly constituency canvassing for the party candidate, K.S. Vijayakumar. Fully prepared for the by-elections in Gummidipoondi and Kancheepuram, Mr. Kumaran has trimmed his hair to depict the "two-leaves" symbol, and on the forehead, he wears a "crown" with the letterings "Amma" above which are the pictures of the late Chief Minister, C.N. Annadurai, flanked by those of the party leader and Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and the late M.G. Ramachandran. His bare chest and belly are replete with electioneering slogans.

Mr. Kumaran says he works as a sweeper in a local temple in Erode. For the sake of the party, he has come down to Gummidipoondi to do electioneering. "My only aim is that Amma should win the elections and I will not mind walking any distance for that". He says he will canvass in Kancheepuram also where by-elections are to be held on May 14.

Hectic political activity

With only a week left for campaigning, the interior roads of the rural constituency are witnessing hectic political activity. Flags and plastic festoons carrying the symbols of the parties have been put up on the roads in the otherwise sleepy villages. Election offices have sprung up and sleek cars flying the party flags and carrying leaders speed past the dusty roads.

Road-side trees and buildings serve as resting places for those engaged in electioneering to have a quick food and a nap. Deadlines have to be met and the party cadres are aware of it. Shortage of flags or election symbol cannot be a valid excuse.

At Padhirivedu, young Narendran was seen stitching several DMK flags without diverting his attention. "Electioneering has started. Political leaders have started arriving. However, problems of people remain. Life goes on as usual....", says a Padhirivedu resident.

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