| Monday , February 8 , 2016 |
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1160208/jsp/frontpage/story_68134.jsp#.VrgiJlR97tQ
Made in head-en- Amma finds wedding ambassadors |
| G.C. Shekhar |
 Amma stickers on the headbands and (below) the traditional headband — a turmeric-paste-coated thread with a gold plate  The couples tied the knot at an event organised by a leader of the AIADMK as part of celebrations in the run-up to the chief minister’s 68th birthday on February 24. After quick rituals at a temple in Udumalpet town, around 425km from Chennai, the couples were taken to a community hall where they were seated to receive gifts and listen to speeches by party leaders. The crowning moment came when the newlyweds were asked to wear the golden cardboard headbands with a sticker showing Jayalalithaa’s smiling face pasted in the centre. The grooms sported an AIADMK badge with Jayalalithaa’s photo pinned to their silk angavastrams (stole). Then, the couples were handed bouquets — again with Amma’s photo — and made to hold them through the hour-long programme. The event was organised by the deputy Speaker in the Assembly, Pollachi V. Jayaraman. The bill was picked up by Jayaraman and his party colleagues. Against such a backdrop, it is unlikely that any couple would have complained about being converted into brand ambassadors for the AIADMK and the chief minister hardly two months before Tamil Nadu goes to polls. Some couples did look tense while the AIADMK leaders who had organised the event were all smiles. The couples, chosen by party leaders from the Tiruppur and Coimbatore districts, were handed wedding gifts — usually given by the bride’s family. No prizes for guessing the gifts, ranging from steel almirahs and cots to utensils, were also plastered with Jayalalithaa stickers. Jayaraman, 62, justified the Amma headbands and claimed none of the couples had objected. “Just as the people of India love Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru, the people of Tamil Nadu love Amma. This function was organised by our party. So what is wrong in using Amma’s pictures? You go to a DMK-organised wedding and you will find Karunanidhi’s photos on bouquets. When I got married in 1980, my leader MGR’s photos were pinned to my garland. This is our way of honouring our leaders.” Jayaraman denied suggestions that the Amma headbands had replaced the traditional ones worn during weddings. The traditional headband consists of a thread coated with turmeric paste, along with a gold plate fixed in the centre. “The Amma headbands were worn more like a crown over the traditional headbands. We have been doing this for the past two years during our leader’s birthday but no one bothered then,” Jayaraman said. The wedding programme and the Amma headbands have drawn greater attention this time as they come barely three months after AIADMK cadres pasted Jayalalithaa stickers on relief material — whether from the government or from private or voluntary agencies — during the floods that ravaged Chennai and other areas of Tamil Nadu in November-December last year. Jayaraman declined to disclose the expenses, confining himself to saying that “more than 50,000 people participated in the weddings and the feast that followed”. Going by Jayaraman’s theory, the Amma headbands could continue to be in demand as more party-sponsored weddings are planned ahead of Jayalalithaa’s birthday. |