MADURAI: Voters from Saurashtra, Gujarat, play an important role in the city of Madurai South. With a strong grip in the political structure of Tamil Nadu, parties like DMK, AIADMK and BJP have pitched in candidates from the community.
“Our community hasn't been represented in the TN Assembly since 1996. So we resolved to vote for that party whose candidate is from our community. AIADMK responded first, naming a candidate from among us,” says TD Easwara Moorthy, president of All-India Sourashtra Madhya Sabha. DMK followed the move with M Balachandran and BJP with AR Mahalakshmi.
The fight for Madurai South has always been about cornering votes of this community, which usually supports a candidate en bloc. Of the 220,000 voters in Madurai South, Saurashtrians number 70,000. Many have a soft spot for the BJP because of PM Narendra Modi. They've hosted him in Madurai twice. But this time, aware that local factors are at play, it may go with either AIADMK or DMK. “BJP's chances look bleak,” says Moorthy.
Madurai's Saurashtrians are descendants of master weavers in the court of Vijayanagar king Krishnadeva Raya. In the 17th century, King Thirumalai Naicker invited them to Madurai to weave silk for him. “We were Madurai's dominant community till the 1960s,” says Moorthy. Though hit by the decline in weaving, they still hold land in Madurai. With the advent of powerlooms in the 1970s, many `pattunoolkaarar' (silk thread people) migrated. The richer folk set up engineering colleges for their youngsters.
They no longer depend on their looms, but don't want to lose their deep roots with Madurai or weaving. The reason they want a candidate from their community is so they can reopen their 200 to 300 weaving co-operatives. “Around 30% still weave. Our glorious past can be revived if weaving is invigorated. Only our own MLA can do this,” Moorthy said.
