By visiting M. Karunanidhi in Chennai, the Prime Minister has effectively blunted the DMK’s attacks against him and the BJP, and sent a message that the DMK would be willing to toe the Centre's line on several issues

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always ensured that he gets the world's attention whenever he decides to prove a point. While Mr. Modi's visit to meet the ailing former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi on Monday had caused ripples countrywide, it was clear that the Prime Minister was using the visit to send a message to the people of the State.

The visit was being hailed as a display of “political decency” by the parties concerned. Political decency was a rare phenomenon in the State's political arena and generally when decency was ensured by exchanging pleasantries during a meeting, it meant loyalties were being bought or sold, resulting in political realignments.

Observers who read too much into this meeting by calling it an act of “political decency” should remember that the so-called decency was not on the display when the DMK celebrated the diamond jubilee of Mr. Karunanidhi's entry into politics.

The DMK had avoided inviting the BJP, including its local leaders, for the celebrations in order to woo the Tamil nationalists who were fuming after the agitations on Jallikattu, methane project and the farmers' suicides.

Although the BJP leader H. Raja had invited the DMK leaders for his 60th birthday celebrations, the DMK was seizing every opportunity to target the BJP and Prime Minister Modi for all the problems faced by the State. Even the controversy surrounding the release of the Tamil film Mersal was attributed to the Centre by alleging that Mr. Modi had been irked by the film dialogues on the GST.

At a point, DMK Working President M.K Stalin had even charged that the ruling AIADMK was being manipulated by Mr. Modi, and Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and his Deputy O. Panneerselvam were mere “puppets” and that the Prime Minister was pulling the strings on them. He even went to the extent of saying that the DMK would not allow Mr. Modi to set foot in the State through the back door.

The BJP, especially the central leadership, considered this too serious a charge. A party that had wanted to take deep roots in the State and that had always portrayed itself to be a party with a difference, did not wish to be seen as the moving force, behind the facade of an elected government that was controlling the State. And surely, the party did not wish to be blamed for the failures of the State Government.

Mr. Modi clearly wanted to prove to the people of the State that it was not just the Edappadi government, but given the opportunity, even the DMK would be willing to toe the Centre's line on several issues and that their noise against Mr. Modi and the Centre were just for public consumption and their inner voice was different.

And that was why Mr. Modi, who had not entertained several requests by the DMK Working President for a meeting with him at the Prime Minister’s Office, this time had decided to react to this charge. To convey the point that he could not be stopped from entering any place in the State, he chose to enter the lion's den itself. Mr. Modi, who had not visited Mr. Karunanidhi during his hospitalisation or granted an audience to Mr. Stalin all these years, had decided to pay a visit to the party chief while participating in the platinum jubilee celebrations of the newspaper Dina Thanthi.

Mr. Modi reportedly had even gone to the extent of inviting Mr. Karunanidhi to stay with him in his house in New Delhi, a rare gesture on the part of the Prime Minister to send the message that the senior leader still commanded New Delhi's respect.

The DMK leaders and cadres had failed to read the message, and were heard saying that Mr. Modi had washed his hands off the ruling party and that the alliance had been finalised and the seat-sharing too had been finalised in Sharjah where Mr. Stalin had met some BJP leaders secretly and clinched the deal. Some were even saying that elections would be held after Pongal.

The DMK had, knowingly or unknowingly, fallen into the trap laid by Mr. Modi. Having scored a point, Mr. Modi did not forget to appreciate the relief measures taken by the State government following the recent rains.

It was not sure if the bonhomie between the two parties would continue, but Mr. Modi could pat himself on the back for blunting the DMK's attacks and be contented that henceforth the people would not take the DMK's attacks against him seriously.