Tamil Nadu local body election was held on October 17 & 19. This elections happening 5 months after the state assembly election in which the ordinary working people and peasants of Tamil Nadu decisively rejected the corrupt DMK alliance (part of Congress led UPA government at the centre). But in the absence of a genuine political alternative, people had real no choice and had to vote for the Jayalalitha – led AIADMK alliance (which scandalously included the communist parties) which is as corrupt, anti worker and pro-right wing. In such a short span of time, AIADMK alliance is already facing a number of problems and all its allies are split away and are contesting alone in this local body elections.
A staggering 411,177 candidates are contesting for 112,697 position. Number of participants and candidates in the election tells us only about the enormous number of people participating but nothing about the real issues at hand. In fact corruption and attacks on basic services have gone up compared to previous years. Money made available to local bodies for development related activities has in fact only spawned more corruption and hence the increased competition among all corrupt, pro capitalist – landlordist parties to capture the local bodies. There was a report that one these corrupt parties even put one position on sale for the highest bidder. Working people, peasants and the poor will be the definite losers in this election as always, as none of the promises will be delivered as usual.
A genuine mass organization that truly represent the interest of the working people and the poor is the crying need of the hour. In its absence, people are pushed between either of the two, corrupt pro – capitalist – landlordist party alliances, who try to manipulate the masses through false promises and freebies. There are very few candidates who have a genuine mass support base among the masses. We must register our opposition to these pro capitalist policies of these changing alliances not only during voting day; but also coming forward to build a genuine mass political alternative representing the interest of the working people, peasants, landless and the poor.
Pasumpon V N
Chennai