Sriperumbudur: Disgruntled voters and a pale election

Usually, elections in Tamil Nadu are like temple festivals. There are lights, fireworks, music, dance and colourful people. For the first time in 15 years, an election in the state seems to be muted.

Muthulakshmy's angry words summarise the popular mood. "Elections come and go. What is so special about it? Have they ever changed our lives? It has been the same, that of an ongoing struggle ever since we were born. I don't care about these elections."

"Women are suffering, but not even Jayalalithaa, a woman, has helped us. Where can we meet her and tell her our troubles? All of them whiz past us in their vehicles. I will vote only after these politicians close down all the toddy shops in the state."

Sriperumbudur, which used to be a reserved constituency with a total electorate of 1,195,047, is now a general constituency after delimitation. It has urban clusters like Ambattur, Maduravayil, Alandur, Pallavaram, Tambaram, which were parts of Chennai city constituencies. The rest of the constituency with more than 100 village panchayats is mostly rural.

The town is located around 40 kilometres from Chennai on the Chennai- Bengaluru highway. From 2000 onwards, the then sleepy, undeveloped small town started attracting industries from all over the world, mainly because of its proximity to Chennai.

Today, it has global giants like Hyundai Motors, Nokia, Saint-Gobain etc. In the Special Economic Zone created recently, well known names like Flexotronics, Jabil, Dell, Samsung have also commenced operations.

Competing against him is former Union minister of state for railways A K Moorthy of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, the sitting MP from Kancheepuram, having won that seat twice, in 1999 and 2004.

When Kancheepuram was made a reserved seat for scheduled caste candidates, Moorthy moved to Sriperumbudur, which has been now de-reserved. Also in the fray is Arun Subramanian of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, whose leader is the Tamil movie star Vijayakanth, popularly known as 'Captain'.

Near the Rajiv Gandhi memorial in Sriperumbudur -- the former prime minister was assassinated in this town on May 21 18 years ago -- we ask Ravi, who has come to have a tender coconut, about the election.

"I am a PMK supporter," he says, "but you can't predict the outcome. It is a tough battle for both Baalu and Moorthy. Baalu is a wellknown face appearing in newspapers and on television quite regularly. Moorthy is not that known, but this area falls under the Vanniyar belt."

After delimitation, several areas from Chennai South have moved to the Sriperumbudur constituency, giving the DMK nominee an early advantage.

"This is the first time the Communist parties are making their entry in this area," says Ravi, who used to work at the Saint-Gobain factory. "It is a new development. In another 2, 3 years, you may see red flags flying high here."

In fact, red flags are already flying on the highway median.

There is a bus that passes through a place three kilometres away from the village, just once a day. The service is erratic.

The building of the only middle school that was started seven years ago in the village is unfinished. Teachers, if they come at all to the school, gossip and take their siesta, the villagers say. There is no primary health centre in the village. The list of complaints is unending...

An angry Suguna, who heads a village self-help group, says, "You can see the condition of the school. The school has only up to Class 8. Our children walk five kilometres to school in Sriperumbudur. If a snake bites a child, then we have to run 5 km carrying him. Is this what development is? We do not want colour television sets. We want a school, a road and a dispensary."

Another villager, Rakkamma, sarcastically mimicks the politicians who come to the village with folded hands, without asking what the villagers want or how they live -- only to reappear after five years.

Mohanvalli is 19 and a first time voter, but she is not excited about voting. She walks 3 kilometres to catch the factory bus every morning.

"I get Rs 2,500 as salary. I got the job not because of any political party. I could not study after the 10th as there was no school nearby."

Selvaraj, a contractor, says, "It's sad to read about people getting killed in the war, but for us, our daily struggle is more important."

Kanmani, another villager, remarks that it is an issue for the politicians and not for them.

'Captain' is, of course, DMDK chief, movie star Vijayakanth, whose nominee is contesting the election in Sriperumbudur.