You have the freedom to poke your nose or any other organ of the body in the problems of your own country and mess it up. But you can’t take this freedom with other countries’ problems. This is an old international convention. But this convention isn’t applicable to Tamilnadu. They have the extremely unique privilege of having the freedom to poke their noses into others’ affairs. If some outsider were to comment on Jammu & Kashmir, we all will be at daggers drawn; but Tamilians will be all at daggers drawn if India didn’t interfere in Srilanka’s internal affairs.
They have all drawn daggers and started thePulikkali in earnest. It is Thiru Muthuvel Karunanidhi who has drawn the dagger first. There is nothing wrong in the Treasurehouse of Kindness doing that because, who draws the dagger first is very crucial in this game. Parliament elections are around the corner. Being in power both at the centre and in the state gives you a comfortable feeling; but it won’t fetch votes. With commodity prices going up and the availability of electricity coming down, DMK leaders and workers can’t freely and fearlessly go out in the street.
The accepted practice in our democracy is that those in power create enough anti incumbency rage within the given time that those in opposition benches can come to power in the next election. This way both can be in power one after another. Karun too came to power on such a rage. But this time the tide seems to be on the other side. He is capable of writing scripts for the superhit movies, but that does not ensure votes. He has only firebrand speeches and dialogues, but can not be the superstar in thrilling action scenes. With the next electionsThi. Mu. Ka.’s kitty in the parliament might shrink to one fourth.Puratchi Thalaivi is waiting in the wings. If you lose in numbers it will not be possible to squeeze in all Balus, Velus, Toms, Dicks and Harrys of DMK in the cabinet. Without them there won’t be the downpour of ‘developmental projects’ to the state. So he has to play the game… if it is tiger, let it be tiger – it is just a game.
He has to watch out for Vaiko, the guy Jayalalitha imprisoned for supporting Tigers openly. Then there is the Pattali Makkal. They are closer to the Tamil Tigers. Can’t predict who will bag more votes. Even the Left, who were with Karun till a while ago, has left… they are trying for a tie-up with the Thalaivi. On a whole it is a period of solitude. True, his position is not as bad as that of the other Karun in the neighbouring state of Kerala who is laying motionless on the foot path now because of his life long endeavour to launch his son and daughter in politics. Both Stalin and Kanimozhi are nearby to help our Karun. They will sign their resignation letters the moment Karun asks them. But that gimmick is no guarantee for votes. For votes you have seek other venues.
The Lanka tune is not clicking with the people as in the old days. There was a time when it rained in Jaffna people opened umbrellas in Tamilnadu. When nothing happened spontaneously there was an efficient apparattus to launch protests and riots wherever and whenever you wanted. Undressing in front of the media cameras party men used to jump to the sea to swim to Lanka. But this time nothing is happening there. Even Tamilians have learned Prabhakaran’s game. They are learning Karun’s game too. Now they know that it is Prabhakaran, the messiah who was born to save the Tamil, who has butchered more Tamilians than anyone. Not much different from the army General who said he distroyed the village to save it from the enemy. Tamil nadu voters have started asking inconvenient questions like ‘why Karun didn’t forward the resignation letter of his daughter to the speaker?’ They are also asking why Karun is not asking ministers Balu and Velu to tender resignation.
Karun and Co is not even averse to asking for a military intervention to save the Tamils in Srilanka. It is with the same logic that Pakistan is sending armed militants to Kashmir. There it is religion, here it is language. Once Rajiv Gandhi sent in the military after some people raised such a hue and cry. Karun gained from the operation and the entire nation lost. Karun has come out with support to Tiger Prabhakaran who is the assassin of Rajiv. But Sonia can’t dump Karun. Neither can Karun Sonia. Sonia’s party is ruling at the centre with Karun’s support and Karun’s party at the state with Sonia’s support. They both are helpless, power is thicker than blood.
UPA’s anti-terror agenda is to fight Global Terrorism minus Tamil Terrorism. No national party in Tamilnadu has anything to say against LTTE. Even the once vociferous anti-Tiger crusader Jayalalitha too is silent these days. If she were in power anti-Tiger slogans could have been used as a tool to lock up opponents underPOTA
. Now, what is the point?
