The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “AIADMK is like an affectionate family”

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Monday, Feb 25, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“AIADMK is like an affectionate family”

Special Correspondent

Jayalalithaa explains the rationale behind forming youth camps in every ward

— Photo:S. R. Raghunathan

WITH BLESSINGS: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa conducts the marriage of former AIADMK Minister S.Muthusamy’s son at her 60th birthday celebrations held on Sunday. Sixty five couples got married on the occasion.

CHENNAI: All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Jayalalithaa, who turned 60 on Sunday according to the English calendar, chose the function organised on her birthday to explain the rationale behind her party’s latest initiative of setting up ‘Ilaignar Pasarai’ and ‘Ilam Pengal Pasarai’ (camps for young men and women) in every ward of rural and urban local bodies.

Noting that the party required rejuvenation and new blood, Ms Jayalalithaa said members of the proposed camps would “spearhead the army for our rights.” The camps would groom the youth for the future and would be a training ground that focussed on the greatness of the nation, language and the race. Senior members of the party would guide the young members.

[On Thursday last at Thirukadaiyur in Nagapattinam district, Ms Jayalalithaa participated in religious events conducted to mark her birthday as per the Tamil calendar].

The AIADMK leader was speaking after solemnising the wedding of 65 couples held on the premises of a school in Kilpauk. She presented 60 varieties of household articles to 60 couples, whose wedding was organised by the J.Jayalalithaa Peravai [forum named after the AIADMK general secretary]. She gave away gifts to the other five couples. As her personal donation, she presented a cheque for Rs. 10 lakh to Latha Rajendran, principal, Dr. MGR School for the Speech and Hearing Impaired, towards the education of school students.

Likening the party to “Karpaga Vritcham” [a tree in heaven that is said to yield whatever one desires, according to the legend], she said the AIADMK was not an organisation that thrived in one period and declined in the other. It was not merely a political party but an “affectionate family.” It was a tree that would not wilt. “It was raised by a ‘moon’ [Chandran] that will not diminish in size,” she said, referring to AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran and drawing applause from the gathering.

S. Muthusamy, the party organising secretary and whose son, M. Raja, got married on the occasion, said Ms Jayalalithaa was the “only and direct” heir of the AIADMK founder.

BJP, SP greet

According to a release issued by the AIADMK, L.K.Advani, Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Amar Singh, Samajwadi Party general secretary, Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister, and Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP’s ‘prabhari’ (in-charge) for Tamil Nadu, spoke to Ms Jayalalithaa over phone and greeted her on the occasion of her birthday. Another release stated that at the party head office in Royapettah, E. Madhusudanan, chairman of the party presidium, released a souvenir. A 60-kg cake was cut. Poor feeding and special prayers were conducted in places of worship in different States including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

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