It’s raining threats
Even Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi or other Jayalalitha-baiters like his sons deputy CM Stalin and union minister MK Azhagiri have refrained from calling it a gimmick. By a supreme act of restraint, no doubt. The threat letters to the AIADMK chief which began as a trickle on August 28 have now turned into a flood. Sixteen at the last count. AIADMK MP Dr Maitreyan told me that four more threat letters were received on Thursday. On Wednesday, P Sunil, Vice-President (News), Jaya TV requested additional security when a caller – who reached the next level from the earlier letter writers – called three times at the channel threatening to blow up the TV studio and kill amma. The caller too, like the letter writers, wanted her to call off her October 18 rally at Madurai.
With so much hype now surrounding the rally, there is no way she will call off something she can politically leverage. MP and Legal cell chief of the party, Manoj Pandian, says, “The cadres are energized and we are expecting at least three times the numbers that came to Tiruchi.” Amma says 18 lakhs turned up for the August rally in Tiruchi.
Already DMK and AIADMK cadres in Madurai have started a poster war and fights have broken out on the ground. Her cadres and leaders have got an adrenalin rush thanks to the cranks trying to stop her even if they are impersonating LTTE sympathizers. Dr Matreiyan said the party was expecting Karunanidhi (or shall we say Azhagiri’s) cops will not allow anyone inside Madurai after Sunday evening. So if the rally is not hugely successful, a fall guy is already handy. But if it is hugely successful, then Azhagiri may as well put down roots in Delhi, because it means his grip on Madurai has been loosened.
Advertisement
No word to the CBI
Meanwhile, the CBI probe ordered by the government has not made much headway. Manoj Pandian, who met the home secretary, to complain about the latest threat letters, said the CBI has not actually been handed the case. And that’s because the CM has to write to the home ministry and he has not done so as yet. “It’s not enough to tell the media that you have handed over the case to CBI, you have to take the right steps to make it happen,” he says.
Karunanidhi covers all his bases
Nothing like what seems like a resurgent amma to get Tamil Nadu CM, M Karunanidhi, to cover all his bases. Apart from all the freebies he is lavishing on all sections of people, and the camaraderie he displayed with Congress President Sonia Gandhi during her day-long visit to Tiruchi and Puducherry keeping the alliance with the Congress alive, Karunanidhi very clearly is not averse to the overtures of PMK’s Ramadoss despite the prickly relationship that followed after their ties hit a freeze in June 2008 when the PMK was jettisoned by the DMK from the rainbow alliance that won the assembly elections in 2006. Neither Karunanidhi nor Ramadoss can harbour rancour when the former is trying to come back as CM for a sixth time and the PMK chief is trying to remain politically relevant although he continues to be opportunistic. The fig leaf both leaders used to meet up this week was Ramadoss’ insistence for a caste-wise enumeration in the state “to protect the existing 69 per cent quota in education and employment in the state”.
The Weathercock
No one really believed Ramadoss when he said “I came only to give the resolution (the PMK met on September 17 and passed a resolution demanding a caste enumeration). There was no political dialogue”. As some leader once put it: When two political leaders meet, how can there be no discussion on politics?” After June 2008, Ramadoss went to Amma, fought the Lok Sabha poll in 2009, but walked out soon afterwards even though he demanded and got seven seats, none of which the PMK won. Then the relationship with the DMK seemed headed towards a revival during the elections to the Rajya Sabha in June. But Ramadoss wanted the DMK to accommodate his son, former minister Anbumani Ramadoss, whose Rajya Sabha term, which he got with the DMK’s support, was ending. The DMK was smarter saying it would consider the demand later but first it opened the door for the PMK to come back. Ramadoss backed off believing his own claim that he was not cosying up to the DMK so Anbumani could get the DMK’S support for a second stint in the Upper House. Now he is more chastened even if he says “We are not in a hurry to take any decision. We will keep our options open.” He says he will decide in January/February. By then, one will know which way the wind is blowing. And Ramadoss being a weathercock will scent the victor. So he might be back to calling Jayhalalitha his “anbu sahodari” (dear sister).
Zakir Hussain in the making
Pondicherry (or Puducherry, which is its official name) has that certain air that fosters politeness, niceness that small towns have although if you look at the aggressive driving of two wheelers on the road, you wonder. But still, apparently everyone does his/her own thing on the roads and it causes no stress because I have seen no road rage fights. Pondicherry and Auroville, to the outsider, seem like a chilled out place where everyone has time to smell the coffee.
So, while the rest of India was raising its collective blood pressure over the conduct of the Commonwealth Games, there was seven-year-old Keshav, a resident of Auroville, who went on to create magic at the inaugural ceremony of the CWG when he played the tabla, along with hundreds of percussionists.
Keshav has no formal training but he plays like a dream and with the confidence and panache of a Zakir Hussain. He has learnt how to play the percussion instrument only by observing a tabla player, who visits his house often. His mother’s French partner, Nadaka, who is a guitarist, jams with the band (which plays contemporary and world music) that he manages and little Keshav has been watching them and learnt. The child’s mother, Gopika, a painter and photographer, also chants Vedic hymns and the couple have made Auroville their home. Before performing at the CWG, Keshav has performed at private functions and social gatherings in Auroville and also at concerts in Canada and the United States. Watch out for this prodigy.
