Chennai: The PMK can say all it wants on Kushboo, but the big guns in Tamil Nadu politics are keeping quiet. Both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi have come out with no strong statements on the issue so far.
Protests by the PMK and the Dalit Panthers of India have now virtually held hostage Tamil actor Kushboo for over a month.
The reason for the poltical silence is the PMK's use of Tamil sentiment in these protests. The party has projected Kushboo's staments as an attack on the morality of Tamil women.
While it's allies like the DMK feel it's an issue that won't yield much and instead may back fire on the party's image. It's opponent Jayalalithaa finds it more comfortable to stay away.
This has left the PMK and DPI to monopolize the issue. The two parties started what they call the third war for Tamil in early 2005 and since then have played the Tamil card more aggressively, continuing to do so in Kushboo's case.
Observers say it's an effort to expand their political base to a larger Tamil base from their now narrow caste base in a few districts of Northern Tamil Nadu.
"PMK's posturing as the protector of Tamil cause will not work. No language belongs to any particular party," Prof. R Radhakrishnan said.
Ironically it's the same PMK's rising son who as the health minister spoke of AIDS awareness in Delhi. But in Tamil Nadu his party has ensured that a public debate on Kushboo's statements on pre-marital sex in the context of Aids awareness is now virtually impossible.
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