A good leader knows the way, shows the way, and goes the way.

Well done Vaiko. You have proved that you are a people's leader. A poor man's friend.

Otherwise why should you spontaneously extend a helping hand to Kandhan, a poor Dalit labourer?

Seventy year old Kandhan had hoped that his only son Manivannan would deliver his family from its poverty. It was an ordeal raising two lakh rupees that a job agent demanded for sending Manivannan to Malaysia two years ago, to work as a head loader. Manivannan led a meager life in Malaysia, so that he could send home a few thousand rupees every quarter, perhaps not knowing that all his remittances were being used for repaying the loan his poorfather had taken for his sake!

Then, the news came as a bombshell. The Indian Embassy in Malaysia informed Kandhan in March that Manivannan was murdered and that his body had been kept in a mortuary. The shock that the heartrending news gave was insignificant compared to the agony that followed. It was an ordeal to bring home his son's body. But for the timely help of the MDMK Chief Vaiko, the wait would have been unending.

Kandhan's earlier appeals to the officials for help had fallen into deaf ears. Vaiko took up the matter with the External Affairs ministry and the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi. It had its desired impact. The Indian Airlines waived the flight charge of Rs 50,000. And, Vaiko paid an amount of Rs 45,000 that the Embassy had demanded for embalming the body.

As Shakespeare says,
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.