DMK picks Pushpanathan Wilson, Salma and Sivalingam to Rajya Sabha. Who are they?

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), on Wednesday, announced its candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. Keeping up its polls promise, DMK has nominated actor-politician Kamal Haasan to the Rajya Sabha.

 

The DMK has fielded senior advocate Pushpanathan Wilson for a second term, and former minister S.R. Sivalingam and poet and writer Salma. Wilson served as the additional solicitor general of India between 2012 and 2014 and also as the additional advocate general of Tamil Nadu between 2008 and 2011. He was instrumental in securing several landmark judgements from the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court for the DMK. The most significant was his argument in the Marina case where he ensured that the DMK got the right to bury the mortal remains of former chief minister M. Karunanidhi next to the Anna Memorial on the shores of Marina. The latest was the DMK government winning in the Supreme Court against the governor who had withheld the bills passed in the state assembly. 

 

Poet and writer Salma

 

Born Rokkaiya Malik in Tuvarankurichi village near Trichy, Salma is a popular contemporary poet and a gender activist, known for her literary works and her unflinching voice oppression of women in conservative households. Her debut novel 'Irandaam Jamangalin Kathai' ('The Hours Past Midnight; in English) was long-listed for The Man Asian Booker Prize. It captures Muslim women and their oppression through the eyes of a girl named Raafia. It is indeed Salma’s own childhood experiences, being raised in a conservative Muslim family that formed the inspiration for the character. 

 

An avid reader, Salma could not pursue her interest in literature because of the oppressive rules in her home. She was barred from even leaving her room when there were male visitors in the house. She was married off at a very young age and was stopped from pursuing her passion to read and write. 

 

In 2000, her first collection of poems, 'Oru Maalaiyum Innoru Maalaiyum', was published. Things began changing when the Tuvarankurichi panchayat seat was reserved for women. Her husband made her contest, which slowly turned into a lifeline. She began campaigning, chairing meetings and educating women in her own community. The elections helped come out of the four walls of her home. In 2002, Salma was invited to an international conference on women's issues held in Sri Lanka. In 2006, she contested the Marungapuri assembly constituency but lost. Later, she was nominated as the chairman of the state social welfare board. 

 

Salma’s literary career has soared since then.  In 2006, the National Book Trust of India nominated her to the Frankfurt Book Fair. A year later, Salma became the featured author at the first Norman Cutler Conference of South Asian Literature at the University of Chicago.

 

Her literary works were bold, sarcastic and probing works on gender and sexuality. In 2013, British filmmaker Kim Longinotto brought Salma’s life to the screen. The award-winning documentary was screened in eleven countries across the globe. Her travelogue 'Kanavu Velipanayam', describing her experiences in 20 countries received global acclaim. Her 2016 novel, Manaamiyangal was translated into English in 2020 as 'Women, Dreaming' by feminist writer Meena Kandasamy.

 

With Salma’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha, the DMK seeks to consolidate the Muslim minority and women votes in the upcoming election. 

 

S.R. Sivalingam

 

A DMK veteran, Sivalingam was elected as MLA from the Panamarathupatti constituency in both the 1989 and 1996 assembly polls. Sivalingam is also the district secretary of one of the DMK party districts in Salem.

 

By nominating Sivalingam, DMK seems to be playing its caste cards carefully in Salem and West Tamil Nadu. Salem incidentally is the hometown of AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The DMK which, till a year ago, did not have any representative in the cabinet from the Salem region inducted Salem R. Rajendran. Besides, former minister and T.M. Selva Ganapathy who is considered to be an arch-rival of Palaniswami in the region was sent to the Parliament after he won from the Salem Lok Sabha constituency in 2024. Party insiders say the idea is to contain Palaniswami’s performance in Salem and win the maximum number of assembly segments from this district, which it had completely lost after the demise of Veerapandi Arumugam, one of its veterans from Salem. 

India