Don’t liken me to Drona, said Karunanidhi
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The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi was far from pleased when the Anna University (Chennai) Vice-chancellor P.Mannar Jawahar hailed him as Bheesma and Dronacharya, the celebrated characters in the epic Mahabharata, at a function on May, 1 st September.
“Why are you directing your anger at me by euqating me with Bheeshma and Dronacharya”, he remarked jocularly before explaining the reasons for his discomfort.
The Chief Minister said he had respect for Bheeshma, who in the beginning supported the Pandavas but later defended the Kauravas in the battle of Kurushetra as a result of which he had to lie on a bed of arrows. “I do not approve of Bheeshma’s life in his youth. I do not want to explain why”, he said.
However, what disturbed him more was the eulogy that he was like a Dronacharya to the academic community. “This is an institution named after C.N.Annadurai where students who were earlier denied the right to education are now aspiring to become engineers and achieve greater heights in life. Dronacharya was one who had refused to teach archery to certain sections on the grounds of caste. When Ekalavya learnt archery discreetly and hit the target shown by Drona, the latter had asked the archer’s thumb as guru dakshina. How can I be equated with him” asked Karunanidhi.
The Chief Minister who had turned up to unveil the foundation stone for six new government engineering colleges, the Tamil Nadu Open University and the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education, despite medical advice, said: “If Kamaraj had ensured elementary education for the socially oppressed, this government has created access for higher education to all.
