‘Kanimozhi’ in Tamil means ‘a lady with words as sweet as a fruit’. For a discerning Tamil connoisseur, 'Kanimozhi' when uttered would reverberate for some time because of its melody and rarity.
Obviously, a man who names his daughter ‘Kanimozhi’ should love her very much.
The man, Karunanidhi is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. His daughter, Kanimozhi, is from his third wife Rajathiammal. Karunanidhi once famously described Rajathiammal as the ‘mother of his daughter’.
That description essentially holds the answer to the question - why Kanimozhi is the Lost Daughter!
I had the chance of observing Kanimozhi a couple of times in some social-dos. She is pleasant, unassuming and mild-mannered, almost diffident. Unlike her famous half-brothers, Kanimozhi is not drunk-up on power. The Niira Radia tapes prove this point (refer www.outlookindia.com). When Karunanidhi had to make a choice for a cabinet berth, he chose Maran over Kanimozhi.
She definitely lacks a killer instinct and hence would have never masterminded the mega Spectrum scam. If so, then who would have been behind the scam? And why?
Kanimozhi would have had a privileged life, but that privilege would have still been lesser than that of Karunanidhi’s second wife’s children (Stalin and Co). That’s how the pecking order for children from different wives works! (The story of Karunanidhi's first wife's chidren is all too tragic that even Karunanidhi does not talk about them...so I am going to ignore them)
Kanimozhi would have known from her childhood that she has to struggle extra hard even to remain relevant. More than Kanimozhi, Rajathiammal would have seen the writing on the wall clearly.
Poor (yet rich) Rajathiammal would have thought that money alone could secure Kanimozhi’s future when both Karunanidhi and she are not there. She would have feared that, but for money, Kanimozhi would be eventually side-lined and made into a non-entity by her half-brothers.
So Rajathiammal had to find a Raja to run an ATM ministry in Delhi. Andimuthu Raja is only incidental. If she had not found Andimuthu Raja, she would have found an Angamuthu Raja!
But then the Raja that Rajathiammal selected was uncouth. He did not know how to be a smart slime-ball. He was caught with his hand in the honeycomb with honey trail leading all the way to Rajathiammal’s own house.
The half-brothers, Stalin and Alagiri are gleeful now. They only fake love for Kanimozhi. They would be content fighting amongst themselves to prepare for the post Karunanidhi-phase. Kanimozhi could, at the best, be a jester to one of them or at the worst, be an irritant to both.
As and when the CBI chargesheets Raja (it will), Karunanidhi will jettison him like a hot potato, even as Raja remains a Dalit. When Karunanidhi becomes a full-fledged senile vegetable, Rajathiammal would become a non-entity.
That would then leave Kanimozhi, the daughter of one of the ‘other women’, stranded like a beached dolphin, or should I say, a beached mermaid?
She may still continue to gibber and call them poetry. She may become a literary secretary for some sabha. She may even join Congress, the last resort for nincompoops and scoundrels.
Eventually, Kanimozhi would become a non-entity. A Lost Daughter indeed.
