In these days of EVMs, whilst electoral news flows faster than the Cauvery ..no, make it Krishna ..or is it a clean Cooum or better still, Veeranam – none of them, for not one of them really had anything in them that flowed – where was I? ah yes, with election results inundating all and sundry at godspeed, it is little wonder that the days seem shorter.
Particularly, the ones like today when at the strike of noon, presto, we have almost the entire results on our screens. In pre-EVM days, the chore used to take up all of two days. For once, being an eveninger has turned out to be a blessing, with the elections positively rigged in our favour.
How else could we so confidently announce the setting of the sun so early on this very hot Sunday? Of course, it is a happy irony for Jayalalithaa that the very EVMs that she had opposed tooth and nail have now heralded her front ā s emphatic victory at the hustings making it a very holy 13th in all. But not so for the DMK, which seems to have rubbed on to its skin the infectious albeit inauspicious 13-syndrome of Vajpayee ās BJP.
As if triggered by a pre-ordained remote control, the ballot boxes have just blown up in their face, belying the predictions of psephologists. But while most pollsters predicted a photo finish, the astrologers held their ground throughout that the AIADMK would record a resounding success. And how right they are.
Perhaps the BJP can find some comfort here for introducing the āvery scientificā astrology as an educational discipline. Provocation enough for the extremely rational thalaivans to reach out for more yellow towels, despite the fact that they are neither atheistic nor aesthetic!
So, the magical musical chair at Fort St George has swung again, dethroning an incumbent and getting ready for the ascension of a past incumbent. Of course, there may be a hitch here what with heaps of dust getting kicked up over Jayalalithaa ā s candidature for the top slot after her disqualification to contest for elections.
With the AIADMK all set to achieve a single party majority on its own, without the help of irritable crutches called allies, her party will have no difficulty in electing her as the Chief Ministerial candidate. The allies, in any case, have given a carte blanche to the AIADMK, much before the election itself.
The focus from this second would now shift to the Raj Bhavan and its very excellent resident. With an overwhelming public mandate in her favour, Jayalalithaa would only be doubly vigorous to pursue her Chief Ministerial candidature, for whatever the legal and moral nitty-gritty ās there is little doubt that the masses of TN have voted for her, she being the single major issue in this election. The Sun, needless to say, would try to peep out of the dark clouds that have eclipsed it today, to see if it could blot out its sworn enemy also from power.
A self-proclaimed palmgrove fox that he is, the Kalaignar not only would dismiss the defeat a la his animal counterpart in that sour grapes episode, but would also try to ensure that the other person does not get it. For in Tamilnadu ā s steamy political cauldron, what is sour for him, may be extremely sweet for the enemy.
Apropos Jayalalithaa, this victory undoubtedly should be deemed as the mother of all comebacks, given the utter ruination that her party faced during the last elections. When Karunanidhi enacted a similar rise from the ashes in 1996 he gave the entire credit to Jayalalithaa for his victory, in his characteristic pervert pun, which needless to say will now lie punctured.
This time too the rational thalaivan must have realised that it is his sworn bete noir who was felled him as decisively as she had handed out victory to him last time around. She has succeeded wherever he had faltered. Be it cobbling together the much touted secular alliance which turned out to be quite formidable, or in putting the allies in their place in seat sharing, all of Jayalalithaa ā s gambits paid off while Karunanidhi kept losing valuble friends and instead relied on unproven votebanks like that of the casteist outfits.
While Karunanidhi interpreted his earlier victory as a mandate to book Jayalalithaa under corruption cases and did little else during his five year reign, Jayalalithaa has successfully converted her sob-story that featured the DMK chief as the vile villain into a box-office hit. While Karunanidhi riled, she wailed and the chivalrous people of TN have promptly nailed her tormentors. Of course, sentimental overtures were not Jayalalithaa ās weapons alone, with the DMK chief himself too unleashing them time and again.
Take for example his repeated beseechment to the electorate that this being his last election, he should be given another chance. The voters instead have thought it fit to bid him good-bye. Try spreading and showing up your fingers and, it may mean one thing. But wave them repeatedly, and you will get the gist of what I am trying to say.
Sure, in this battle of the ballot it is Jayalalithaa who has won, giving her great enemy a vengeful sunstroke, but how should everyone interepret this mandate? A personal vindication of her stated innocence? or a huge victory for -I forget it.. ah, yes, Secularism with a capitals? Or can any one blame her if she emulates Karunanidhi and seeks to do unto him what he did to her?
Well, well, the last option does sound dicey, for having heard just one side of the story all these days, it does interest us to know how saintly the Sarkaria saints truly were. For starters, a few mysteries beg solutions: Like why Veerappan is still at large, why cement prices went up faster than GSLVs, or how powerful uncles become launching pads for nephews as also their satellite channels …one can go on. But that will have to wait, till after the Raj Bhavan drama has unfolded and ended.