An honourable man
The case of the apparent suicide by CPM leader W.R. Varada Rajan is very curious. Firstly, when the CM of a state has no qualms about parading both his wives in public, how did a transgression (extramarital affair) by the Left leader lead to stripping the man of all his posts, and apparently his dignity, because of “moral turpitude” leading to him taking his own life?
It’s true that a man/woman in public life should be above board but ' moral integrity' in politics seems like an oxymoron. For instance, did you know 73 lakh crores (that’s 73 followed by twelve zeroes) have been swindled from the public since 1991 and no one has got convicted? For the TV cameras, a charade is enacted where the corrupt politician/ babu is arrested till the man fakes a chest pain and is taken to a hospital. Recent example: former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda. End of story because politicians, despite all the outrage, all stick together because scams of this magnitude have tentacles that reach into all political parties. In fact even Kerala left leader Pinarayi Vijayan – who has been charge sheeted by the CBI in the Rs 374 crore Lavalin scam – and who was given a clean chit by CPM chief Prakash Karat has got away scot-free so far. In other words, a communist party which claims to fight for the rights of the aam aadmi was okay with one of its stalwarts making money at the cost of the common man but was not okay with another leader because of his conduct in his personal life?
Five days after the humiliation by the apparatchiks who refused to listen to 64-year-old Varada Rajan’s tearful defence that “I’ve done nothing unbecoming of a Communist”, he disappears after leaving behind two unsigned notes. In one letter he wrote in Tamil: ‘Mayir Neeppin Uyir Vaazhaa Kavirimaan’, meaning that a kavarimaan (deer) would not even live for a moment after losing a hair. His message seems to have been clear – that he did not wish to live after the humiliation. And if anyone had any doubt about his tragic intention, the other letter spelled it out. The other letter sought for his body to be donated for medical research (his bloated body that was found in Porur lake was so decomposed that his wish remained unfulfilled), that his laptops and books be donated to the CPM’s publication Theekathir, and the balance in his two bank accounts to the party. What part of these two letters was not clear?
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Questions are buzzing around in Left circles. Why, despite his letters which clearly spelled out his intention to commit suicide, was nothing done to pre-empt it? By the party -- which stripped him of his posts on February 6 but kept it hush-hush as if acknowledging it had over-reacted. By his wife Saraswathi who only lodged a missing person complaint three days after he disappeared (incidentally, her complaint to the party had led to him being dumped despite his service to it for decades after giving up his cushy RBI job). By the police who informed nobody despite recovering a body from the Porur lake on February 13, two days after he went missing?
The good, the bad and the ugly
That AIADMK chief Jayalalitha is fighting great odds is no secret after the DMK or its allies have won the last 10 by-elections. But the lack of pomp and show – remember some years ago when the AIADMK chief was CM, a minister wore a grass skirt and rolled around a temple for Jaya’s longevity? – at the former CM’s 62nd birthday on February 24 is a barometer of her political standing. Granted she asked her cadres not to go overboard, but the point to note is that they did not. There were some poojas, some 2,007 (the digits add up to Jayalalithaa’s lucky number nine) women carried pots of milk from one temple to another in Vadapalani, a former minister O Paneerselvam pulled a silver chariot at the Kalkiambal temple where there were also abhisekhams. But the cadre also carried out poor- feeding and blood donations. At the party office, senior leaders cut a 62 kg cake which was quite impressive and indicated there are some leaders in Amma’s corner who do not take her literally and assume she does not mean what she says. And that’s a good thing because the AIADMK is going to be fighting in a four cornered contest – the others are the DMK, PMK and Vijaykanth’s DMDK – in the twice postponed bypoll in Pennagaram constituency on March 27. With it being the last by-election before the assembly polls, all parties have to prove their winnability. So, who’ll win? No prizes for guessing.
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With partymen like this...
Coming back to Jaya, what is far from a good thing and reflects poorly on her party is the conduct of AIADMK's ex- MLA AKS Anbazhagan who had to flee half-naked from the old MLA’s hostel after a fracas with a former MLA of the DMK last Sunday. Seriously, does she need people like Anbazhagam who filed a PIL in the Madras high court claiming that since the new assembly and secretariat is being constructed in a hurry (the CM visits the construction site almost every day and has dispatched son and deputy CM Stalin to Delhi to invite dignitaries for the inauguration slated for March 13) the curing procedure was not proper? The high court dismissed the PIL (and another one by advocate Balasubramanian) on the ground that Anbazhagan had not substantiated his petition with a study. What Anbazhagan did after losing is not clear, but during the hearing of the petition he had stayed in a room at the old MLA hostel. He apparently got inebriated last Sunday and foul mouthed the DMK and was warned by Selvaraj, the personal assistant of former DMK MLA Kalyanam, to control his tongue. But Anbazhagan was unstoppable and ended up being beaten to pulp by DMK members. He reportedly fled half-naked in a car to Vellore, about 200 kms away, and has been admitted to a hospital there.
Is the doctor in?
The TN government is mulling a ban on government doctors carrying out private practice after it found that the dean of the Tiruchy government hospital had a roaring practice while patients in the government hospital suffered. Following complaints in December last year, an inquiry was ordered and the dean who is also a senior dermatologist was directed to shut down his clinic.
While many doctors like to enjoy the best of both worlds, it bothers them when a physiotherapist uses the prefix “Dr”. After a tug of war between the professionals, the high court has ordered that the state government should take action against anyone using the prefix in their prescriptions and advertisements if they don’t have a valid MBBS degree.
The state government had passed an order last year that a physiotherapist cannot use the prefix ‘Dr’ and should not prescribe drugs. But paramedics and physiotherapists have argued that they are entitled to call themselves doctors as “a matter of courtesy” even if legally they are not entitled to it.
But doctors and hospitals are also to blame because their charges are so high that people even go to pharmacies and seek advice on drugs. Physiotherapists are another breed altogether because they also want to make the kind of money doctors make and hence pass themselves off as “Drs”. But who is to take action when doctors go wrong in their diagnosis and someone dies, something that happens more frequently than one cares to remember. And what about the state government or Indian Medical Association (IMA) which allow Dr Deaths to practice, reflected in the mushrooming of private hospitals and nursing homes?
