The bypoll theatre: Dharapuram deserves better than this shouting match

Dharapuram is a Scheduled Caste-reserved constituency where 22 candidates are contesting a byelection. It has fields that wait for water, workers who wait for wages, and Dalit families who have waited generations to be treated as equals. You would not know any of this from the campaign. What you would know from this week's proceedings is that Stalin allegedly called the TVK candidate "Petti Bama" and "Palti Bama"; that C. Joseph Vijay, the chief minister, responded by branding the DMK "a force of evil" whose members have "obscenity, malice, and perversion deeply ingrained in their very DNA"; that TVK ministers want an apology and an Election Commission complaint; that Edappadi K. Palaniswami wants it known that Vijay "stole our MLA". A 54-acre rally ground. QR-coded passes. Ten LED screens. A bus converted into a stage. This is the bypoll theatre, and the ticket is being paid for by the people of Dharapuram. Let us be plain about what is happening. A Dalit woman candidate has become the prop around which men shout at each other about decency. Stalin's alleged remarks deserve scrutiny; there is no transcript and no response from the DMK, so what remains is an allegation laundered into a campaign weapon. Vijay's escalation is not the defence of a woman's dignity; it is the weaponisation of it. A chief minister who truly believed the dignity of women was at stake would not need the language of a television debate — "force of evil", "enemies of democracy" — to say so. He would not be flying to Coimbatore tomorrow for a holiday roadshow with 2,000 policemen clearing narrow streets. And notice what is not being said: nothing about why this byelection exists at all — because elected MLAs resigned and joined the ruling party, which now demands voters bless the defection. Palaniswami's complaint — "Vijay has stolen our MLA" — is not the defence of democracy either; it is the cry of a rival landlord who lost a tenant. The defected, the defectors and the poached all agree on one thing: the voters of Dharapuram are an audience, not an authority. Periyar taught that self-respect is not a slogan to shout at opponents but a condition to build among the oppressed. Anna taught that language is the vessel of dignity — and what language is this? "Petti Bama". "Force of evil". The vocabulary of the gutter, polished for the microphone. On October 6 the people of Dharapuram will vote, and on October 9 the counting will be done. The shouting will move on to the next constituency. What will remain is the water that did not come, the wage that did not rise, and the Dalit families who were promised dignity and received a front-row seat to this theatre instead. The least the men on the stage owe them is honesty about what the show was really for.