Chennai Corner

Kalaignar’s new avatar
Is CM Karunanidhi turning spiritual ? Or did Anna's birth centenary affect him so much that he’s had an attitudinal shift? Decide for yourself from these philosophical words:  “I decided yesterday (September 27) that I will not hurt anybody by refuting the opinions and statement of others. This is a promise, there is no politics in this.”  He said he is in the evening of his life (he is 86) and from now on he would like to focus on what he can do for the people rather than on what others are saying about him. So can Jayalalitha, who is in faraway Kodanadu for over three months now, break out the bubbly and celebrate? Well, not yet. For one thing it is still too early for her to take him at his word and, for another, he has made it clear that while he himself would not take potshots, he will not stop other leaders from issuing “clarifications, denials and detailed replies.” You can’t get everything!

The child is the father of man
Maybe Karunanidhi’s change of heart was prompted by his daughter, Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi’s nostalgia about the way things were, when social niceties were observed despite political rivalries. She remembered how “MGR used to call up my dad and my dad would call him to wish him on many occasions.” She says that although the alliance with the DMK has been broken, left leaders keep in touch with the CM. She even recalled that the late Congress leader G K Moopanar, who founded the Tamil Maanila Congress, did not carry his political rivalry into his personal relationships. Incidentally, the same cannot be said of his son, G K Vasan, who is currently a union minister.

You need two hands to clap
But those who are sceptical about Karunanidhi’s promise to don a new avatar point to the tu tu main main between him and Jayalalitha for that last two decades as proof that he cannot change. The hostility between them is not just manifested by acidic exchanges but also a bitterness that spills over to the respective party cadre. If both leaders are invited to a wedding, the host makes certain they come at different times lest he get caught in the crossfire. In fact at a recent wedding in the DMK family – the wedding of the son of assembly speaker R Avudaiyappan – Karunanidhi claimed: “The DMK has always shown respect to opposition parties, but it is the AIADMK that has often displayed a lack of courtesy towards its rivals.” He surely has amnesia because he is the one who childishly said that he will refer to Jayalalitha as “thirumathi” (Mrs and not Selvi or Miss) because she refers to his government as a minority government! 

Jayalalitha hit back saying Karunnidhi was responsible for destroying Tamil Nadu’s rich political culture. According to her, Karunanidhi was in the habit of insulting political leaders. He reportedly had called Kamaraj as “andangkakkai” (raven) and had labelled the BJP as a party of mendicants and beggars. However, she had no foot to stand on when confronted with the charge that the AIADMK boycotted all party meetings. Her counter that when it came to major issues like the Cauvery and a separate quota for Arundathiar, the AIADMK attended holds no water. Even if she sends the AIADMK to the last man and woman, it makes no difference because if she is not there herself, there is no AIADMK.

As the old saying goes, it takes two hands to clap and both Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha have raised their hands to make a cacophony. Will we now hear the Sounds of Silence?

Jaya lifts poll boycott
It’s strange but true. Jayalalitha, who had boycotted the by-polls here in August, is fielding two AIADMK candidates – S Ramanathan for Sion Koliwada constituency and Susairaj B Chetty for Malad West seat – in the upcoming Maharashtra polls. The DMK, however, is going to stay out of it. The AIADMK had contested four seats in 2004 and had fared poorly. But Jaya’s reasoning as usual is a mystery. In fact, her party has also put up 104 candidates for the 603 local body posts across the state scheduled for polls on October 7. The criticism that it was irresponsible for the main opposition party to stay away in a poll seems to have galvanized her into facing the DMK at the hustings this time. Also the AIADMK campaign kicked off earlier than the DMK’s. Since boycotting elections seems to have become a practice, Vijaykant’s DMDK is following the precedent set by the AIADMK. As a result, there will be a straight contest between the DMK and AIADMK. Did Jayalalitha enter the fray because she rates her party’s chances high? Difficult to say because the DMK has made inroads into villages like never before, thanks to freebies like the Re 1 for rice and free colour TV scheme.

Midnight riots at Marina
It was an incident waiting to happen and sure enough it did. Bike racing by spirited youth late in the night had been a cause for anger among the local population. Two weeks ago several bikes were set on fire by a group of fishermen following a clash with the youth on Kamarajar Salai. What was unfortunate was that people returning home late were caught in the crossfire. 

Trouble started when a racer collided into Jayapal, the deputy chief of Ayodhya Kuppam fishing hamlet. Hamlet residents gave Jayapal a thrashing. His friends retaliated with stones and soon there was a free for all between the bikers and fishermen. “Nearly 200 fishermen gathered and began stopping all bike riders and beating them up. Some bikers got together and tried to retaliate against the fishermen but were outnumbered and ran away leaving their bikes,” the police said. That’s when the fishermen set fire to seven bikes and damaged many cars.

The police force, which had not been taking drag racing on the city roads seriously, was forced to step in after this incident.

A rush from speed
Speed thrills, but kills. How many times have we found such warnings on hoardings, even boulders, on a highway? But this warning is something that bike racers have not paid heed to, resulting in fatalities. That’s the other side of bike racing. Recently, two young men, who were racing their friends along Elliots beach, ended up dead after being thrown off their motocycle. Though illegal, night bike racing is alive and kicking, even if some of those doing it for the rush are not.  Early last month, a 22-year-old died after his bike hit a divider on Kamarajar Salai, while racing with his friends. Although the sport is illegal, its aficionados have a “race track” that runs from Tiruvanmiyur in the south to the War Memorial in the north. And there are 8-10 groups in the city who have souped up their bikes at a particular shop to make it race-ready. The groups have secret codes with which they communicate so every one of them knows about an impending race. The race is either for 5 kms, 10 kms or 12 kms and the winner gets to take between Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000.

The police claim they are helpless although they get complaints from other vehicle owner saying racers zig-zag on the roads scaring them. Not everyone is a collector who can take action. Recently a collector was being driven along the highway when he found youth in a car trying to engage his car in a race. The collector telephoned the SP who put together a reception committee of cops who waylaid the car and booked the youth for endangering the lives of others on the highway. Will these guys or, for that matter, the ones who were thrashed at Marina race again? Your guess is as good as mine.