A toffee advertisement on the small screen depicting an argument between two tastes would aptly reflect the goings-on in the TMC. And even as a similar but funnier argument rages in the TMC, the party has taken the easy way out by skipping the vital issue of merger with the parent party, for the present. The executive meeting held in Thanjavur has decided to sink with the UF rather than sail with the Congress, for now.
The TMC, of course, believes that the UF is in shipshape and is still afloat. Its decision to remain within the UF, notwithstanding the cramped space in that microscopic outfit, can only be interpreted as a bid to put up a brave front in the face of glaring realities. Whatever the TMC’s claims about the relevance of the UF, it can only be a temporary resting place for all the past Congressmen before they become present Congressmen.
Beyond being a transit point, the UF has little relevance. Moopanar has significantly, kept the door slightly ajar by suggesting that there should be a strategic alliance and cooperation with the Congress. It is anybody’s guess as to how such a strategy would pass muster in the light of the Congress-DMK face-off over the Rajiv assassination case that caused the recent elections.
The Congress leaders, on their part have already waxed eloquent on the touchability of the DMK, despite its dubious past which has been certified by damning indictments. But if the grapevine is to be believed, it is only the TMC leader’s disinclination to part ways with his discredited and defeated partner, that is now standing in the way of a grand homecoming.
He has, to everyone’s dismay, stated that the relationship is intact. And in the same breath and in an attempt to tamper the intensity of his indulgence with the DMK, he has added that his party would function as a constructive ‘Opposition’, in the light of the fact that the two leaders are members of a mutual admiration club.
The choice before the Hamlet is confounding, given the heartfelt longing for the parent and a deeprooted commitment, for no visible reason, towards a friend. Perhaps one may liken it with the dilemma of Karna of Mahabaratha, but the similarity ends there. This is no war for upholding dharma, but rather a squabble for spoils.
Neither does the bond between the two friends pass the test of logic or self-interest of the TMC nor does the self-denial of the Congress label by the TMC seem though invisible, still remains intact. Evidently, by his unending vacillation, cake and eat it too by retaining his friendship with the DMK while at the same time keeping the hopes of merger with the Congress alive.
Such a course smacks of a total lack of concern for the aspirations of his partymen not does it do any justice to their dream of bringing back Kamaraj rule. Or probably it is Moopanar’s wish that it remains a dream. Admittedly, the TMC can never think of coming to power in the State so long as it sticks to the company of the DMK, unless of course it has decided that Kamaraj’s ghost lives in Arivalayam. On the other hand, the party’s existential dilemma is aggravated by the fact that there is not one reason that can stand the test of conviction that could be quoted against a merger.
On the contrary, the temptation to just bury its head in the parent’s lap and weep off two years of separation, is quite in evidence in the demeanour of the TMC which resembles a lost child in search of the parent. The party’s decision to continue to play the cat on the wall is a classic case of self-deception. And its feeble excuse about the relevance of UF sounds as hollow as the UF itself.
However, there was another dilemma which was sorted out at yesterday’s meeting. Moopanar’s decision to abdicate was promptly turned down and he continues as the unquestioned leader of the TMC, though everything else is a matter of confusion in that party. But the next time if Moopanar decides to renounce something, we suggest he should try and give up such things as indecisiveness and procrastination. The party executive, for its part, should also remember to endorse the same, if and when its leader decides to ‘decide’.
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