Chennai Corner

Like father, like son
It’s a New Year but in the DMK, nothing has changed. Whether he accepts it or not, it’s a like father like son syndrome for Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi. Last week he enacted a drama by not going to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh either at the airport or at the reception at Raj Bhavan, And after he let everyone know how important he was that he can stand up the most important person in the country, he let son and deputy CM "prevail" upon him to show up the next morning. He even got the PM, who some months ago had got the DMK in a sulk by saying the Congress-DMK alliance was intact “for now”, to declare the relationship was “warm” and “cordial.” 

His son M K Azhagiri has just done the same thing. Or, if you like, taken it to the next level. His resignation drama is not new, his jealousy of brother Stalin that he airs publicly from time to time is not new, his not showing up at important party meetings and getting the rumour mills buzzing is not new, his penchant for trying to get attention from papa dearest is not new. Worst of all for him, his dear father ignores his tantrums and in fact, even fuels them further, as he did this time by praising step sister and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi for a “good job”.

The mythical Bhasmasur?
The question is whether Azhagiri is going to do what MGR failed to do and AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha dreams of doing – split the DMK and see the end of family rule in this state? Incidentally, that would be a state of affairs that is difficult to stomach for many people. If Azhagiri was serious he would have given his resignation to the PM, but since he reportedly only threatened to resign during a meeting with his father on January 2 (he reportedly told reporters “write that I have resigned” when they went to wish him for the New Year), everyone knows that it is a bargaining tactic to get a prominent post in the party (he’s the South Zone organizing secretary), and more tickets for his followers. He’s feeling marginalized because brother Stalin, during his tireless travels around the state, is consolidating his hold over the DMK. In fact, when Stalin went for a self- help group function in Madurai district this week, Azhagiri stayed away. While Azhagiri’s supporters claim 68 MLAs are on Azhagiri’s side, the reality is most of them make sure they don’t fall foul of Stalin. Even Veerapandi Arumugam, the strongman in Salem district who caused a stir recently by visiting a nephew (arrested in connection with a murder) in jail, and who was seeing as being in Azhagiri’s camp, publicly glorified Stalin recently.

Azhagiri’s recent rebellion is being attributed to Stalin’s support of Raja, the former Telecom minister. Although the two brothers wanted Raja and Kanimozhi to pay for the party suffering an erosion in image and said so to their father, Stalin changed his stand and that is being seen as a betrayal by Azhagiri. It also galls him that Poongothai Aladi Aruna, the state’s IT minister who is close to Kanimozhi, rubbished him during her infamous telephone talk with Niira Radia. So many hurts, betrayals and back-stabbing.

When the DMK declared Azhagiri persona non grata in 2000, he hit back the next year engineering the defeat of many DMK candidates in the south. His potential to harm the party has only grown since the DMK came back to power in 2006. Now there’s even talk of him breaking away to form a party. His saga is like Jagan Reddy (the son of former CM Y S Rajashekhara Reddy) in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, who puffed and puffed to blow the house down. The jury is still out on whether the Congress will suffer now that Jagan has broken away to from his own party. Conventional wisdom says that the party is bigger than the individual, but Jagan and Azhagiri seem to think otherwise.

A favourite child
It’s no secret that Karunanidhi dotes on daughter Kanimozhi. But that he wore it on his sleeve weeks after her image took a battering because of her closeness to Raja has caused a stir. Barely two weeks after the CBI raids on the two people she is associated with (Raja and Father Jegath Gasper Raj), she's moved on.

According to the CM, 2.33 lakh educated, unemployed youth took part in the fairs organized by the government in various districts of which 1.34 lakh have got jobs. Praising Kanimozhi’s role in the job fairs, he said, “I am very, very happy to know this and I wish it continues in future.” On the same day he praised Kanimozhi, he ignored Azhagiri.

But on a practical note, are these job fairs genuine or a way of getting party cadres a job into the government? One report says that in the late 90s Karunanidhi called the chairman of one such government unit and asked him to take on 250 party men. “The bureaucrat, who happened to be an upright man, refused stating that the unit was already severely overstaffed and party cadres only increased labour militancy and disrupted the working of the unit. Most often, they only appeared in the morning to sign in their attendance and then went out to engage in other business or politics. Needless to say, the bureaucrat was transferred and the CM had his way.” So much for Kanimozhi’s achievements. 

Kanimozhi's Teflon act
Speaking of Kanimozhi’s achievements, a writ plea has been filed by advocate-activist P. Pugalenthi saying that the state tourism development corporation should not associate with Chennai Sangamam, which is expected to start on January 12, as Tamil Maiyam (one of the organizers of the event) was one of the 34 premises raided by the CBI in Delhi, Chennai, Tiruchy and Perambalur. The court has directed the government to file an affidavit stating specifically whether the cultural festival (which will be the fifth edition) was being organized with the funds of Tamil Maiyam or was Tamil Maiyam merely associated with it. Pugalenthi’s plea points out that the CBI probe was still on and the Supreme Court was monitoring the spectrum investigation. Jegath Gasper Raj, managing trustee of Tamil Maiyam, had told the CBI that Greenhouse properties run by Sadiq Basha, a close associate of A Raja, had given Rs 3 lakh for Chennai Sangamam when it began in 2007. Moreover, the CBI has not yet exonerated Tamil Maiyam in the Spectrum probe, Pugalenthi has argued that in such a scenario, any association of the state government with an organisation still under the CBI scanner would be against public interest.

He Rocks
In this celebrity culture of ours we even try to make rocket scientists into rock stars. Barrack Obama’s appeal, incidentally, was because everyone thought “he rocks”. Rahul Gandhi is in the same class. But the hype should stop at scientists. I’m not saying this but Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is saying it.

The same “Venky” that Indians appropriated as their own because by birth he was Indian. Here’s his answer to them: “I am not doing my work for a particular country because there is no Indian team or Olympics for science. Do not have excessive nationalistic pride over scientific achievements.”

So for all those trying to turn him into a celeb, here’s his message:  “Scientists go into science as they are interested in it, they are not interested in these accolades and you will not be insulting them if you do not do them by which you will save lot of time.” Venky even took a dig at filmstars and politicians who bask in praise and are insulted if they are not greeted with a “ponnadai”(shawl) or flowers. Please don’t confuse scientists with filmstars, he said. . “Science is about curiosity and testing. Authorities, celebrities and icons do not have a place in science.”

He was frustrated at being mobbed by the public and paparazzi (at least the Indian version of it) throughout his trip in India. “I was escorting Thomas Steitz (along with whom he shared the Nobel Priuze in chemistry), who is here with me to attend the science congress to see the Pride of India exhibition. There people mobbed us and were pushing and jostling so badly that we had to return without seeing the entire exhibition.”

Here’s some more wisdom from him: “There are many reputed scientists whose theories have later been proved wrong. Science is about constant invention and hence there are no icons or authorities in science.” And for all those autograph hunters, he said: “Perhaps my biography will be more useful for young Indians than my autograph”