Chennai Corner

What a waste

The Karunidhi government spent Rs 1100 crores to build the new assembly complex , which the new CM had already told us was going to be investigated. “You will know the details in the governor’s address,” she had said. And the governor has now spoken — on Karunanidhi's 88th birthday: "A Commission of Inquiry headed by a retired judge of the High Court will be constituted to enquire into the alleged irregularities like excess expenditure, inordinate delay and deficiency in standards of construction. Further works in the new Secretariat complex will be stopped to facilitate this enquiry.”

While the construction was going on, a new motorized vehicle — the kind you see on a golf course — was brought in for Karunanidhi to whiz around when he frequently showed up to inspect it. And since the dome was not going to be complete before the Karunanidhi government had it inaugurated on March 13 last year, the CM outsourced the job to Thota Tharani, film art director and designer, to come up with a replica glitzy dome as a temporary measure. For a cool Rs two crore. The fact that the then first family was flying high and could have demanded a cut price from even big names in Kollywood did not make it any cheaper.

Now, the building has been abandoned and even work to complete the dome had already been stopped. The tired watchman at one of the gates, who has been letting in hordes of tourists, had earlier told me: “Id varikku mudiva pannelai” (They have not decided as yet). From a monstrous building which was crawling with securitymen who checked your antecedents before you were allowed to enter, it has become a tourist spot this summer where anyone can saunter in. “We have come here to sightsee,” confirmed a resident of Triplicane, who like many others in the city was curious about this building after all the hype and hoopla that surrounded it when it was inaugurated last year.

Two weeks ago, there was a free for all when two lakh AIADMK cadres came from the districts for amma’s coronation on May 16. They were allowed to turn this place into a “chhatram” (marriage hall). And they did, the furniture was trashed, the bathrooms will remind of you the ones that give India a bad name during the Commonwealth Games, and in the frenzy to show loyalty to the AIADMK chief, portraits of Karunanidhi and son Stalin were torn off the wall in what used to be former deputy CM Stalin’s chamber.

Incidentally, Jayalalitha’s acolytes made it clear during the shifting back of the few departments that had moved there, no furniture of the former CM or deputy CM should come back to Fort St George. So the two cabins were locked up and nothing disturbed. Should the two feel their offices had been turned into shrines or insulted that the new administration refused to touch them?

Not quite a happy birthday

There was yet another birthday announcement: the proposed revival of the Arasu Cable TV Corporation (ACTC) formed by Karunanidhi's government at the time of the falling out with the Marans to end the monopoly of the latter's Sun TV group in the cable TV distribution market through its Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV). “This Government will revive its activities in the public interest and nationalise the private cable TV operations in the State without affecting the interest of the last mile local cable operators,” the governor said.

Mr Karunanidhi on Thursday, had requested to be left alone, and booked tickets to Delhi for Friday. It was widely believed that he would spend his birthday with his daughter in Tihar. But in the end, even that plan was scrapped and the tickets cancelled. Clearly, it was not quite a very happy birthday for the Kalaignar.

Worth a thousand words

Soon after Jayalalitha’s victory, hoardings came up all over the city welcoming her. One example: Ammavin, Arumai Arasukku (loosely: “The government will benefit from Jayalalitha”) and underneath were the words “Vanakkangal, Vazthukal.” (Good-day and good wishes). As she slips into her third week as CM, the euphoria is still there.

It’s not just these hoardings that told the story that winds of change had blown in. It’s also the fact that portraits of former CM M Karunanidhi and his son former Deputy CM Stalin were lying carelessly strewn on a sofa at the now-abandoned Assembly complex a day after the election results came out which told you things were changing in this state.

There’s never been anything called continuity here. There are many other signs all around. Bus routes are being renamed, calendars are being brought out again by universities because their existing calendars have Karunanidhi’s pictures. Talk of cosmetic changes that are being brought about. And of sycophancy being very expensive for the people because tax payers are going to be coughing up their hard-earned money for all these superficial changes.

So once results came out, it was off with the old and on with the new. And apparently, there’s a sense of fear about the “bold” new CM whose mood swings and mercurial nature makes everyone who works in government wary. Which is what propels government departments to erase any vestige of the old when they quickly bring in the new dispensation — new portraits, new calendars, new hoardings where the reigning deity benevolently smiles down on denizens from vantage points in the metropolis. “It’s a routine thing that happens everywhere when a new government takes charge. Here the changeover happens faster, that’s all,” says a supervisor involved in the work. So portraits of the old CM are dumped in some room to collect dust while the new CM finds pride of place on the wall. The strange thing is that no one gives an order, least of all the new incumbent. It’s just understood.

They keep missing the bus

The winds of change are blowing in the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) too. They were even quicker to bring in change. On the night of May 13 itself! Who cares if residents live at a place which has an identity crisis every five years. So when Karunanidhi is the CM, the localities are called Mogappair East and Kalaignar Karunanidhi Nagar and they get changed to JJ Nagar East and KK Nagar respectively when Jayalalitha comes back.

Residents of Radhapuram in Tirunelveli district must be thanking the Congress because there was a proposal to name the bus stand after Karunanidhi’s parents. Karunanidhi had claimed that the demand had come from the panchayat, which had DMK men in positions of power. If that had happened, it would definitely have a new name by now. But since the Congress objected saying the land on which the bus stand came was named after Kamaraj, a Congress stalwart, Karunanidhi backed off and the bus stand took its name from the name of the town and was therefore called Radhapuram bus stand.

One would think in a state like this, politicians would play safe and name localities/ bridges/ roads/ schemes after Annadurai/ Periyar/ MGR/ even Kamaraj although the above example is evidence that one can run roughshod over the sentiments of Congressmen. But mostly, these leaders tend to transcend the animosity between Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha and therefore things named in their memory would stay that way and no expense will be incurred by you and me when these leaders’ acolytes want to please the new rulers. But politicians here are not just petty but apparently megalomaniacs.

So it was no surprise that the Kalaignar Insurance Scheme and the Kalaignar Housing Scheme got the axe too. Both would be replaced by new schemes. Says a government employee, “What we expect from the new government is change in policies that makes our life better, not change in names.”

More loyal than the king

If Madras University vice-chancellor, Dr G Thiruvasagam, had been prudent he would not have to place an order for the new CM’s picture so that he can have calendars printed again mid-year. Thiruvasagam had abandoned the past practice of putting pictures of different edifices of learning — Chennai alone has many — that came under his university and instead put pictures of Karunanidhi, Stalin, governor Surjit Singh Barnala, and then higher education minister K Ponmudy. Now he reportedly is spending several lakhs to reprint calendars.

Thiruvsagam reportedly first issued orders that all calendars with former government “icons” should come down. Then he apparently got sergeants to do an inspection of all departments to see whether his orders were followed. Tiruvsagam has reason to be nervous and no one will be surprised if the new government gives him his marching orders. Thiruvasagam had publicly projected himself as a protégé of Karunanidhi and his son, Union minister M K Alagiri. In fact, Thiruvasagam had gone to Madurai during Azhagiri’s birthday on January 30.

More loyal than the king, Thiruvasagam, soon after taking over as the VC in October 2009, introduced an MA in " Kalaignar’s thoughts". As a cover to sneak in his loyalty to the then CM, he also introduced MA courses in " Periyar and Anna thoughts". Just before coming to Madras university, Thiruvasagam was the VC of Bharatiyar University in Coimbatore where he initiated translations of Karunanidhi’s literary works into English. He even attempted translation into Chinese through a partner university!

While we are on the subject, another person who needs to worry is Tamil Nadu Open University Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Anbuchelvan who happens to be the daughter-in-law of former finance minister K Anbazhagan. With such a close connection to the powers that were, Kalyani had praised the DMK leadership at various public including university fora. Another educationist took it a step further — he criticized Jayalalitha in a book he wrote last year on the DMK’s history. The educationist was Prof A Ramasamy, vice-chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Higher Education (TANSCHE), who has been associated with the DMK since he was a student. But in 2001, when Jayalalitha came to power, she let him finish his term as VC at Alagappa University, but since he wrote a book criticizing her thereafter, maybe he should pack his bags. While the rule book says that the state government cannot remove VCs before they complete their tenure, it does not say anything about all the hurdles a government can bring in to make the incumbent disappear.