Is Karunanidhi nervous?
The prevailing wisdom in TN is that the DMK will turn historical precedent on its head (of alternately coming to power) and come back to rule this state. In fact, the poster that came up in Madurai to mark union minister for chemicals and fertilizers M K Azhagiri’s birthday on January 30 showed a throne with a question mark. The question was not about Jayalalitha of the AIADMK becoming CM but that Azhagiri would, despite CM Karunanidhi dropping hints that his other son, deputy CM Stalin, was next in line.
So, with the party brimming with confidence after winning most of the bypolls in the last two years, Azhagri engineering defections of important AIADMK leaders – the latest is AIADMK MLA L Radhakrishnan – why is the CM accusing the Election Commission of bias towards Jayalalitha? Is he nervous that all the freebies he has laid out will not reflect in the ballot box? Ironically, it was the AIADMK and its then ally, PMK, which had accused the EC of looking the other way when Azhagiri unleashed his “Thirumangalam formula”, which is code for lavishing cash and deploying musclemen to get votes, during the earlier by-elections. Writing in his party organ, Murasoli, Karunanidhi said, “One would ask with regret whether those who ought to uphold democracy are functioning in a partisan manner like the fence eating the crop.” Karunanidhi is clearly upset that the CEC personally telephoned Jayalalitha and invited her to the EC’s diamond jubilee last week. And astute politician – or desperate, depending on which way you look at it – she chartered a plane and winged her way to Delhi.
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What is making Karunanidhi nervous is that the imperious Jayalalitha exchanged greetings with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, indicating a thaw. What has not escaped the five times CM is that Rahul Gandhi recently referred to the AIADMK as a “like-minded” party. What made him see red was that Rahul did not leg it to Gopalapuram, like other Congress leaders and officials like the National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, to pay obeisance to him. And what has made him angry is that the Congress is an unhappy ally and increasingly Congress leaders like E V K S Elangovan are criticizing him openly. Recently the CM denied Elangovan’s statement that Central funding was used to underwrite the expense of one of the DMK freebies – colour TVs for one crore persons. But, Congress spokesman says, “We have an alliance in place” to propitiate Karunanidhi. We all know all bets will be off nearer to the polls.
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DMK-PMK bhai-bhai
Interestingly, Karunanidhi has used PMK founder S Ramadoss’ complaint -- that the EC is biased -- to hit the EC. Now Ramadoss has renewed his complaint because the Pennagaram bypoll, which has been postponed, is going to ensure the seat will slip out of his grasp since he is on his own after breaking off with the AIADMK. His efforts to get back into the DMK coalition have not been successful. Last month, Ramadoss had said, “In the 1991 elections, PMK won the seat on its own with a margin of around 32,000 votes. In 1996, the party retained the seat. However, in 2006, due to pressure the seat was given to the DMK. Now we are not in the DMK alliance and we are contesting.” And that is why he had written letters to the left parties appealing for their support to his candidate (another son rise – PMK president G K Mani’s son Thamizhkumaran is the candidate in Pennagaram) because he had felt that the PMK would get home and dry by 40,000 votes. “We have to defeat the DMK to protect democracy from ‘cashocracy’,” he had argued. But allies including the left ignored his appeal. There is hope for him because he could interpret the CM’s attack on the EC as Karunanidhi softening towards him. As they say, my enemy’s enemy is my friend.
Love is dear
Thanks to the marketing blitzkrieg, Valentine’s Day, an export from the west, has become so big that young people are seen as losers if they don’t get a piece of the action (a word I use advisedly). The Ram Sene had prepared its platter with mangalsutra, coconut and kumkum for those unfortunate enough to be caught in a PDA (Public Demonstration of Action). [He got a taste of his own medicine today when his face was blackened] The Shiv Sena is focusing its energies on disrupting My Name is Khan. Incidentally, why should the state spend crores on giving security to theatres? Shouldn’t Karan Johar be coughing it up or shouldn’t multiplex owners at least pay part of the cost considering one pays an arm and a leg for tickets? After all, if the state pays, it only means your tax bucks are underwriting it so it will be a double whammy for the aam aadmi? Let's put it down to the price we pay for being a democracy.
Neither the Ram Sene nor the Shiv Sena has a presence here, which is probably why TN is going to get a Valentine deity. Of course it’s a gimmick and R.Jagannath of the Chennai-based Gokulakshmi Trust has given it a spin. “Lord Krishna is believed to have had about 16,000 wives. Every day was Valentine’s Day for him,” he says adding that the trust is constructing a Valentine’s Sri Krishna temple at Sholingur in Vellore district. Abe Lincoln once said you can’t fool people all the time. Well, obviously Jagannath begs to differ. Pity Jagannath did not put his energies into exporting more roses as a result of which Hosur farmers are going to be losers. As a result of the unprecedented snow in parts of the world, including the US where Valentine’s Day is a big deal, the export orders have dwindled. Last year Hosur farmers exported 1.2 million cut roses to Europe, but the number has significantly declined, says J Manjunath of Sivadarsh Exports. Last year the price range was Rs 8-20 per bloom, this year its Rs 8- 40. Love is getting expensive. And on top of it since February 14 falls on a Sunday, office romances which bring in much moolah on V Day, are not going to happen either.
How is this a joke?
If you ask me, actor Jayaram did not get enough of a comeuppance although police arrested activists of director Seeman’s Naam Thamizhar for insulting Tamil women. His graceless apology after referring to his maid (in an interview to a Malayalam channel) as “dark, fat and buffalo-like Tamil woman” went like this: “I regret the remarks. It was a joke from one of my films and not aimed at hurting anybody’s sentiments. Insulting Tamil women intentionally will be like insulting my own mother. The protestors damaged several of my film awards. Even awards my son and daughter got were smashed.” He was rescued by the CM who quoted Annadurai to say, “forgive and forget”.
Separately, criminal defamation proceedings have been initiated against him at a city court and those should continue just as actor Khushboo is still working her way through the legal system for her remark some years ago that protection is a good thing if youngsters are sexually-active. Apart from being completely insensitive to his maid, the actor’s attitude to women in general is condescending. And his “apology” that he was repeating a dialogue from one of his films, only reflects the quality of films where an insult to a woman is seen as humour.
