The fooling spree seems to have kicked off a little ahead of the appointed day. In any case, with our politicians fooling everyone all the time and thus giving the lie to an age-old adage, April Fools’ day has become generic and genetic too in this nation.
Here’s a roll-call of this week’s fooling fads. The first off the fool fest is the DMK’s exit from UPA-2. Now, why are we not shocked? Or surprised? Neither did we give a start nor did we even stir on hearing the soul-shattering news! On the contrary, why that sinister sensation, that sarcastic smirk, that sly sigh and that smug shrug, of having smelt something stale? Did we see it coming or have we seen it too often, this re-alignment of rational farces? Really, the DMK ‘quitting’, or ‘not joining’, the UPA, 2 or 1 or 0, is no news at all. But the reason always is.
And it is never what it seems or what is put out officially by that celebrated script-writer, K. Lofty rhetoric on secularism, Sri Lankan Tamils, stability etc to fit the flavour of the season, is paraded for public consumption to hide what essentially are family or financial deals. And so it is that, after silently winking at the genocide of ‘fellow Tamils’ in 2009 despite being the TN CM and an all-powerful ally of Cong, the self-appointed sole leader of world Tamils has now suddenly woken up from a four-year long Kumbakarna-like slumber. But the Tamil gag will fool only a few. The real reason? Of all speculation doing the rounds, my pick is: 2G. Hope ARaja spills the beans and fools all his pals who too played the fool with public funds!
The fooling gambit over the UN Resolution called for some real gall. That K and co-borns believed they could influence US policy and get 20 odd nations to agree to amendments, that too at the eleventh hour, repels rationalism. Of course, they themselves did not believe it, which is the whole point. The US-sponsored resolution was public knowledge for several weeks now, a fait accompli. Which means the DMK could have very well quit long back. The furore was, therefore, not fool-proof. Bargains were afoot, ostensibly on SL Tamils’ fate but obviously on other fronts! By the way, why did the DMK cabinet ministers quit in instalments? Did they reflect the party’s sympathy for SL Tamils which too comes in fits and starts?
But if just a petty ally can pull so much wool, imagine what big brother Cong can! After actively aiding the SL regime in the mass murder of Tamils in ‘09 the UPA is now all tears, even enacting the charade of ‘persuading the US till the last’. Instead, why did India not bring a resolution itself? Why was there not even a whimper of protest during the Geneva vote? And that final democratic drama over a Parli resolution was surely over the top. Of course, there is no denying that the SL issue has caused much havoc in India. But the power plays and political parleys of DMK and Cong on that pretext, particularly after the liquidation of LTTE, have no justification. The duo has not only made a mockery of real sympathisers whose umblical urges are genuine and natural but have also caused irreparable damage to the future of Tamils in the idyllic island across the Palk Straits. A fatal foolery indeed.
Amidst all the farcical drama over a serious life-and-blood issue, there was a comic interlude. CBI sleuths entered the residences of Stalin and Alagiri to enquire about luxury car imports and the next instant, all hell broke loose. The DMK screamed ‘political vendetta’ and it was 1976, once again, the familiar foes and their flashbacks, their frequent flings forgotten. Cong quickly distanced itself with FM PC even making a wholly improper condemnation of the CBI act. The PM in his typical dull, dreamy, detached drone declared: ‘My Government did not do it’. The CBI is probably run by and reports to Rajapakse! But surely, the CBI’s foolhardy raids did take all, itself included, for a ride!
And we continue to be fooled by Italians. I refer to those marines who made an ass of this land and its laws and their government that is now dictating our judicial verdicts. But the Italian job, a joke on us really, holds a lesson: It is indeed officially and legally possible to get Italians off our soil. I am not talking of just marines here.
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