An open letter to Joseph Vijay
Gopalkrishna Gandhi
https://epaper.thehindu.com/ccidist-ws/th/th_chennai/issues/183568/OPS/GUUFUN4AG.1+GQ6FUNTTG.1.html
Dear Chief Minister-elect C. Joseph Vijay,
Greetings and the warmest felicitations on your stellar victory.
I was not among the nearly 35% of those who voted for you. But as the results tumbled out, I was duly startled. But there was this thought: He is new, which means he is inexperienced and which also means he is fresh, clean.
I said to myself he must be told some truths. He will understand. He has the wisdom of youth knocking at the doors of mid-age.
And so, esteemed Chief Minister-elect may I place these thoughts before you:
1. You have won the vote; you are yet to win the all-important floor-test in the House. It is important that you make the protecting of India’s federal and secular fabric your priority number one. Let the State under you stand for the mariadai (respect) of the Constitution’s basic structure. Let no panic about saving your chair make you compromise on that.
2. Enter the House as Vijay in every sense of the term but remember that triumphalism does not make for good attire, studiousness does. M.K. Stalin, whom you are succeeding, represents a venerable thinking tradition of a whole community’s self-respect which Periyar bequeathed, of a movement’s ardent effort to bring about equality in a society riven by prejudices. His statement of departure is statesmanlike. His absence from the Assembly is to be regretted. You have what he does not: a fresh slate. He has what you do not: an experienced stylus to write with. Please do not let the dialectical luxury of what is Dravidam and what is not. He is your predecessor, not your predator. You are his successor, not his supplanter. And let Udhayanidhi Stalin’s presence in the House be for you a great duet, not a grim duel. As in what Nadal facing Federer has been — a balance of skills.
3. What, it may be asked of you, is your ideology? Let that not faze you. Tell them, “My ideology is following my manasaatchi (conscience).”
4. Please treat officers as colleagues, not subordinates. They can be in the mistaken impression that sycophancy is service. Rid them of that mistaken impression by telling them, like Sardar Patel, as Home Minister did, to offer without fear their frank view, objective advice. And discourage all criticism of the outgoing Ministers.
5. Lastly, Chief Minister Sir, please, remember within the State you have to sustain good governance and economic progress, with environmental protection as a primary priority. But beyond, become a beacon for a hate-free, fear-free and just India. If I may end on a personal note. It is the first time that in you, a Christian heads the government of this State. Celebrate that gift of destiny as God’s intervention for Tamil Nadu’s secular credentials. Let no one tell you to mute down or understate that legacy. Valluvar would not want you to.
I wish you more than success, Chief Minister. I wish you fulfilment.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi
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