Hamlet reincarnate

There could be little doubt that the TMC is the modern version of Hamlet. The party should really opt for the bust of the Danish prince as its mascot. There is of course a difference; the legendary hero was faced with just two choices but Moopanar’s party seems to be always confronted with several. The Tamil Maanila Congress’s continuing tryst with dilemmas of one sort or the other perhaps is due to some political genetics as the party’s very birth was owing to a major dilemma in 1996.

The recent drubbing at the hustings has indeed come as a rude shock to the party and its leaders who never expected such a turn of events in this short a period. The TMC’s alliance with DMK has always been a troubled one, as most hasty marriages are, with both the partners blowing hot and cold on several issues.

The strength of the alliance lay in the personal rapport between Moopanar and Karunanidhi and this also took a beating when the latter was seen as being instrumental in preventing the former from becoming the Prime Minister last year. Yet, the two leaders kept burying the hatchet whenever the need arose such as the elections to the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Such patchwork lacked both the credibility and conviction that are necessary for a coordinated plan of action and this lapse was very much in evidence during the poll itself when the TMC and DMK cadres failed to strike the right rhythm between them.

Adding to the turmoil were the conflicting signals that emerged from the direction of the Star on whom they relied heavily. The abject failure of the star power has also woken up the TMC to the utter hollowness of its edifice which was primarily dependent on such extraneous factors with no intrinsic strength of its own to bank on. Also, the TMC’s agenda of hounding the AIADMK, with no positive programme of its own is also another reason for the debacle as no party can afford to thrive on pure vengeance and vendetta.

Dilemma again dogs the party and its chief. Moopanar has, in an emotional upsurge decided to lay down office as the head of TMC, owning up responsibility for the electoral defeat but obviously there seems to be more that mere accountability that has prompted his decision. It is also a sure reflection of the debate within the party on its future course of action and Moopanar evidently has been unable to take a decision, as usual.

This perhaps explains his attempt to wash his hands off any decision the party may take. Though this may give the impression of a thriving inner party democracy, in reality it only exposes a troubled mind that is unable to come to terms with a heart-felt longing and the compulsions of running an outfit that is yet to establish an identity. And the reason why an identity eludes the party is precisely because of its leader’s unending capacity to dither on any and every issue and the tendency to allow others to take decisions for him.

It may be because of the man’s give-and-take approach, but at the same time such a course runs the risk of being dubbed as indecisiveness and inability. The TMC today is not seen as a very ‘courteous’ party, but rather as a ‘confused’ party, even by the media which has contributed to much of the complacency and self-deceptions that plague it now.

From the very inception of the TMC, the impression I gathered was that Moopanar was a reluctant player in his new avatar as the chief of a fledgling party. His demeanour was that of person who has been pushed into the battle by the tide of events and not that of one who had entered the fray on his own volition. Yet the resounding victory within a month of birth did bring down the curtains temporarily on all misgiving about snapping ties with the parent and instead brought in its wake hopes of a third alternative in TN.

Such delusions evaporated soon as Moopanar failed to muster the courage to part ways with the DMK, even when the Jain panel report offered the best opportunity and his decision to sink or sail with his partner, come what may, is perhaps the most baffling political riddle in recent times. To complete the circle, the latest rout at the polls has again brought back all the debate and discussions that were witnessed two years ago in these same days.

To quit or not to quit, to rejoin or to stay put etc, etc are just a few samples of the plethora of options that now stare Moopanar in the face. There are surely several factors to be weighed, the primary ones being the relationship with the Jain-tainted DMK and Sonia’s views on that count. There is also the prospect of the renewal of the never-ending internecine wranglings in the TNCC, which may in all likelihood come back to haunt, for habits die hard…. even if the outfit is dead. The TNCC is in no position to dictate, having lost the deposit in every constituency it contested for the second election in a row.

Its keenness to avoid a dubious hat-trick when elections come around the next time may be behind its all-out efforts to rope in the TMC. It hopes it can still rise before the ashes get dissolved in the sea of troubles that it is faced with. For Moopanar, it may just be a change of abbreviations though he may not relish ‘re-inheriting’ all the ills of the TNCC. Whatever his other troubles, he is now certainly free from the persistent naggings that characterise TNCC politics.

But the pace at which things seem to be moving, what with Moopanar expressing his wish to rejoin the parent if invited and the parent promptly opening its arms to embrace the lost child, the TMC’s birthday this week may also be its, shall we say, homecoming day. If time is a great healer, then polls revel in meting out shock treatments that may achieve the same results faster.

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