Springing a surprise, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party has nominated acclaimed writer and feminist Salma as one of its three nominees for the upcoming biennial election to the Rajya Sabha. She has proved to be the dark horse along with another candidate, SR Sivalingam of Salem.
Salma rose to fame when her semi-autobiographical debut novel, Irandam Jamankalin Kathai (The Hour Past Midnight) was long listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2009 and shortlisted for the Crossword Book Prize in 2010. Hailing from an orthodox Muslim family in the small town of Thuvarangkurichi near Trichy, she took the political plunge, successfully contesting the Panchayat President post of Ponnampatti in 2001. Born as Rajathi Samsudheen, she chose the pseudonym ‘Salma’, picked up from the poetry of Khalil Gibran.
Her school life was cut short after she and her cousin along with a male friend sneaked out to watch the Malayalam movie, Avalode Ravukal, which is about the story of a teenage prostitute. However, she started reading books from the local library which continued even after marriage. It was after marriage that she wrote her first poem.
Of the outgoing three MPs, the DMK has renominated only P Wilson and as expected, Vaiko of the MDMK has to give up in favour of Kamal Hassan, whose Makkal Needi Maiam (MNM) party joined the DMK-led alliance prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha election. In a media release, the DMK said the party had allotted one of the four Rajya Sabha seats it could win, to the MNM as per the earlier agreement. For the other three, it had named Wilson, Sivalingam, a former MLA and party strongman of Salem district, and Salma.
In 2004, Salma formally joined the DMK and was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the party’s Women’s Wing under Kanimozhi. Then, she was given the party ticket to contest the 2006 Assembly election from Marungapuri seat. Though she lost the election by a whisker, she was made the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Social Welfare Board.
Thanking Chief Minister MK Stalin for nominating her to the upper house of Parliament, Salma said, “I will be the DMK’s voice of the people in Parliament. It is a great honour that the leadership has reposed faith in me. I belong to a minority community and I will also be the voice of women.”