season isn’t just about rival politicians getting to call each other names. In Tamil Nadu, there is a longstanding tradition that if mom and dad can’t agree on a proper name for their newborn, the baton usually passes to a politician.
DMK minister Udhayanidhi Stalin sidestepped one such request during a rally in Dharmapuri recently, but possibly only because the baby already had what he thought was a timeless name: Rolex.
Udhayanidhi’s party colleague Kanimozhi, seeking re-election from Thoothukudi, strategically picked the name Thamizachi for a baby whose parents had approached her while she was campaigning for DMK’s South Chennai candidate Thamizachi Thangapandian.
AIADMK leaders, too, continue to embrace this tradition. In honour of former chief minister M G Ramachandran, leaders such as Dindigul Sreenivasan and Kancheepuram MP candidate E Rajasekar recently named newborns Ramachandran at different rallies.
DMDK’s Premalatha Vijayakanth, who has allied with AIADMK, is known to be an active advocate of the custom.
At a rally in Erode, she named her two babies Vijaya Jaya and Vijaya Ramachandran, seemingly a combination of the alliance leadership’s names.
The late J Jayalalithaa was known to have expanded this tradition, extending it to even animals. In 2011, she famously named a male white tiger cub Rama, and its female sibling Chandra.
Other parties, including PMK and BJP, have since joined the name game. As the Rolex ticks on elections, it’s apparently time to be a tad innovative as well. PMK’s Sowmya Anbumani and BJP’s K Annamalai have opted for unique names for babies like Ilam Mugil, Megasri, and Rudran.
DMK minister Udhayanidhi Stalin sidestepped one such request during a rally in Dharmapuri recently, but possibly only because the baby already had what he thought was a timeless name: Rolex.
Udhayanidhi’s party colleague Kanimozhi, seeking re-election from Thoothukudi, strategically picked the name Thamizachi for a baby whose parents had approached her while she was campaigning for DMK’s South Chennai candidate Thamizachi Thangapandian.
AIADMK leaders, too, continue to embrace this tradition. In honour of former chief minister M G Ramachandran, leaders such as Dindigul Sreenivasan and Kancheepuram MP candidate E Rajasekar recently named newborns Ramachandran at different rallies.
DMDK’s Premalatha Vijayakanth, who has allied with AIADMK, is known to be an active advocate of the custom.
At a rally in Erode, she named her two babies Vijaya Jaya and Vijaya Ramachandran, seemingly a combination of the alliance leadership’s names.
The late J Jayalalithaa was known to have expanded this tradition, extending it to even animals. In 2011, she famously named a male white tiger cub Rama, and its female sibling Chandra.
Other parties, including PMK and BJP, have since joined the name game. As the Rolex ticks on elections, it’s apparently time to be a tad innovative as well. PMK’s Sowmya Anbumani and BJP’s K Annamalai have opted for unique names for babies like Ilam Mugil, Megasri, and Rudran.