āThoda maatten, thodavum vida maatten, thottavanaiyum vida maatten.ā I will not touch, will not let anyone touch, and will not spare anyone who does. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay's threefold warning against corruption has the cadence of a cinema punch dialogue and the gravity of a government proclamation.
The challenge is to make the second live up to the first.Tamil Nadu's politicians have promised to wipe out corruption so often that corruption itself must be wondering why it remains so comfortably employed. Governments come, governments go, ministers change portfolios, parties exchange accusations and occasionally exchange the accused themselves.
But oozhal, that durable Tamil word for corruption, survives every change of regime. The words sound like a warning.
The real test lies in whether they apply equally to political enemies, friends, relatives and freshly recruited former enemies.Indeed, the central character in this long-running political drama is not Vijay, Karunanidhi, MGR or Jayalalithaa. It is corruption itself, the remarkably enduring survivor of every political revolution and rhetorical crusade in Tamil Nadu.THE RAID AND THE RECKONINGThe latest episodes have given Vijay's declaration a topical edge.
On October 26, former School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi was arrested after the Madras High Court refused anticipatory bail in an alleged private-school approvals fraud. Investigators have traced transactions worth 17.26 crore involving more than 177 school managements while examining allegations of substantially larger collections.
The former minister disputes the accusations. Three days later, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption searched 25 locations linked to former Municipal Administration Minister KN Nehru and others.
The investigation concerns alleged cash-for-jobs irregularities valued by investigators at 634 crore, involving recruitment to 2,538 posts. The agency reported seizing 170 documents and 13 digital devices.
The Madras High Court had directed a full investigation following material supplied by the Enforcement Directorate.Former Chief Minister MK Stalin called the searches political vendetta and accused Vijay's administration of staging a raidshow. The government points to the investigations and judicial proceedings.
Neither political accusation settles the criminal question. A raid can produce headlines overnight.
A conviction requires evidence that survives daylight. Vijay has also reportedly warned ministers that relatives, associates and others exploiting their names cannot be allowed to turn public office into private enterprise.
The principle is sound. A minister may not personally touch the money, but the money may still find a relative.
Criminal responsibility requires proof; political responsibility demands vigilance.THE POLITICAL LAUNDRY SERVICEThat brings us to Vijay's own political company. Former AIADMK Health Minister C Vijayabaskar joined TVK in July, along with former Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar and other defectors.
The two Vijayabhaskars are distinct personalities, but their arrival invited a common question about TVK's anti-corruption standards.C Vijayabaskar had faced investigations and raids connected with the gutka controversy and other allegations during his AIADMK years. Such scrutiny does not establish guilt.
Nor does joining another party establish innocence. The status of each case must be decided by evidence and courts, not political convenience.Yet, the contradiction is difficult to ignore.
Politicians denounced as symbols of the old order can become valuable acquisitions to the new one. Yesterday's villain becomes today's veteran, bringing experience, organisation and perhaps a useful electoral network.
The allegations remain in the files while the adjectives undergo a remarkable transformation.Political washing machines have become so popular that every party appears to offer a spin cycle. The stains may or may not be real.
The change of colour is unmistakable.WHEN OOZHAL ENTERED THE POLITICAL DICTIONARYThe latest government did not discover corruption charges. Allegations against Congress rule under M Bakthavatsalam helped the DMK challenge the then entrenched establishment.
Anna and his colleagues made administrative probity part of their assault on Congress dominance. But the accusation acquired an even sharper edge after the DMK itself assumed power.During Karunanidhi's early administrations, oozhal became a staple of Tamil political vocabulary.
Rice transactions, wheat purchases and the Veeranam water project figured in controversies that filled platforms and newspapers. MGR, after breaking with Karunanidhi in 1972, carried allegations against his former colleagues to the Governor.
The anti-corruption crusade became the foundation of a new political party.Following the dismissal of the DMK government during the Emergency, the Union government appointed the Sarkaria Commission in February 1976. Its investigation examined allegations against the former ministry, and its findings became political ammunition for decades.
The wheat-purchase controversy also entered criminal litigation. Yet the Emergency setting and the political interests of Indira Gandhi's government remain inseparable from any serious account of that period.MGR subsequently faced allegations concerning his own administration.
The accuser had become the accused, a transformation Tamil Nadu politics would repeat with considerable enthusiasm.The charges changed, the governments changed, but oozhal remained permanently employed. Yesterday's charge sheet became today's campaign speech and tomorrow's coalition negotiation.THE ACCUSERS AND THE ACCUSEDJayalalithaa's political career supplied the most dramatic judicial chapter.
Her disproportionate-assets case led to a trial court conviction in September 2014, imprisonment and loss of office. The Karnataka High Court acquitted her in 2015.
She died in December 2016 while appeals were pending.In February 2017, the Supreme Court overturned the High Court acquittal and restored the trial court judgment against the surviving accused, including VK Sasikala. Proceedings against Jayalalithaa abated because of her death.
That was neither a posthumous conviction nor an exoneration.The case demonstrated the distance between poll verdicts and judicial outcomes. Jayalalithaa could command enormous popular loyalty even while facing grave criminal proceedings.
Elections and courts answer different questions, often at very different speeds.Subramanian Swamy's pursuit of the disproportionate-assets allegations also showed that a determined complainant could keep a case alive across changes of government. But one prominent prosecution does not establish that corruption elsewhere was absent.THE ACCUSATION SURVIVES THE ALLIANCEThe political transformation of V Senthil Balaji offers another illustration.
The cash-for-jobs allegations against him arose from his tenure as Transport Minister in the AIADMK government between 2011 and 2016. The DMK once attacked him over those allegations.
He subsequently joined that party, became a minister under Stalin and acquired a very different political standing.The Enforcement Directorate arrested him in 2023. The Supreme Court granted bail in September 2024.
Neither arrest nor bail determined guilt. The case, however, continued to concern alleged conduct from his earlier political life.The alleged offence belonged to his AIADMK years.
His ministerial rehabilitation belonged to his DMK years. The law recognises no change-of-party exemption.The DMK's own 2021 manifesto had promised special courts to expedite corruption cases against former AIADMK ministers and a more effective vigilance establishment.
Investigations and raids did follow, including those involving P Thangamani and other former ministers. But the gap between a sweeping electoral promise and completed judicial outcomes remained substantial.Every party appears more enthusiastic about investigating its predecessors than examining its new companions.The DMK is overflowing with ex-AIADMK characters, heavyweights and deadweights alike.
TVK is the new sanctuary. The old guard dies hard; the ancien rgime always stages a comeback.CORRUPTION BEYOND THE CABINETThe problem also reaches the permanent administration.
Ministers come and go, but files, tenders, licences, transfers and approvals pass through an extensive bureaucratic machinery. Corruption can operate through commissions, intermediaries, political patrons and officials, while institutional silence can sometimes be as damaging as direct misconduct.The investigation involving Gem Granites businessman R Veeramani provides a different, disturbing illustration of possible institutional failure.
Former Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun and another senior officer were questioned by a Special Investigation Team about the handling of allegations of sexual abuse of minors. A special court had rejected an earlier attempt to close the case and ordered further investigation.The questioning does not establish that the officers accepted bribes or deliberately concealed offences.
But it raises an important administrative question: who holds senior officials accountable when serious complaints are allegedly mishandled?A corruption-free government requires more than honest ministers. It needs institutions that resist pressure, preserve evidence, protect complainants and act without regard to influence.
A clean pair of hands at the top is little comfort if the machinery beneath them cannot be trusted and may even be, rusted.THE CORRUPTION CIRCLE: FROM OOZHAL TO OZHIPPUFrom Vijayakanth to Vijay, anti-corruption promises have travelled through Tamil Nadu's political arena with remarkable regularity. Each new challenger promises oozhal ozhippu, the eradication of corruption.
Each encounters an established political culture in which defections, patronage, electoral calculations and administrative discretion complicate the promise.Vijay's position is especially interesting because he has campaigned against the corruption associated with both major Dravidian parties while admitting figures from that very political world. Their previous allegations do not disqualify them automatically.
But their induction makes consistency essential.The answer is not to arrest every opponent, abandon every investigated recruit or proclaim every allegation proven. It is to pursue credible investigations, strengthen independent oversight, protect honest officials and apply the same rules regardless of party affiliation.Tamil Nadu has heard the promise of clean government from leaders of every political colour.
Some pursued investigations. Some faced investigations.
Some changed parties while their cases remained where they were.Vijay has now promised not to touch, not to let others touch, and not to spare those who do. The declaration will acquire meaning when the rule applies equally to the opposition leader, the Cabinet colleague, the political recruit and the influential relative.
Corruption does not wear a permanent party badge. Nor should the law recognise one.Tamil Nadu does not need another memorable anti-corruption dialogue.
It needs an administration in which the dialogue can survive its own application.- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)