Only in March this year, and not earlier, mind you, the plight of SL Tamils touched a pathetic low; parallelly, only then the Sinhala ‘chauvinist’ regime’s atrocities too peaked. World Tamil champion K ‘quickly’ woke up to these wholly sudden and momentous developments and withdrew from the profitable UPA of which he was a prospering partner. But lo, in just three months, as June draws close, it looks milk and honey is flowing in an island that was drenched in blood and drowning in tears. Apparently, Rajapakse too has reformed and become a Buddha.
Well, these are very rational conclusions one has to draw from the latest patch-up between DMK and Congress. K had solved the SL issue like this many times before. Who can forget the May of ‘09 when the war was closing with the complete decimation of not just LTTE but the whole Tamil populations by the rampaging SL army of Rajapakse. K, replete with his consorts at head and feet, pulled a fast one by going on a super-fast fast that began after breakfast and broke up before lunch break. He had then declared that the Centre assured prompt action. Anyway, R’pakse got jittery, took our Centre’s liberal and ‘prompt’ help and wiped out the remaining Tamils in a jiffy, and in the process, saved any strain on K’s daily dietary routines.
Of course, presently, the situation ‘there’ in SL has seen this dramatic change for the ‘better’ only because the Cong ‘here’ ultimately decided to back Kanimozhi ‘here’ for a RS seat, also here. Indeed, if solving such chronic problems by remote control were so simple, should we not be showering more largesse on K, who is bestowed with an abundant assortment of ambitious, aspiring kin to take it all and more? Now, why not a ministry to, say, Alagiri to similarly ‘solve’ the Cauvery issue? After all, the rational logic is if K’s ‘issues’ are taken care of, the other issues will take care of themselves!
But forget the self-respecting K who begged and begot a post for his daughter by bartering poor Tamils and pet TESOs. What to say of the Cong that put Kanimozhi in jail to claim ‘action’ on 2G scam? Can her election to RS with Cong support now be deemed as a political clean chit and a cue to the CBI from the cleanest character of them all and of all times to come, PM MSingh? Or probably he honestly thinks if he can, with his telltale turban, claim to be a resident and rep of distant Guwahati for the sake of a RS seat, Kanimozhi’s is a lesser sin! Now let’s not drag Signora Sonia because her inner voice is rarely audible and never accountable. What does ‘Voice’ President Ra(h)ul, who wants change, say of the return to status quo? Can he object to this dynastic route to democracy with a straight face?
But then I wonder what a Rajya Sabha itself has to do with a people-centric democracy!
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If RS polls put progeny above principles, Uttarkhand is proof that petty politics will prevail over people and their problems. Pompous party leaders demonstrated what a dangerously divided land of different hues India is. This when nature was on a unifying act as its cascading waters and rolling rocks tweaked topography, erased borders, levelled mankind’s intrusions and treated all humans ‘alike’ in a killer rage!
Many State chieftains blatantly bragged about the number of ‘their people they saved’. Regional opponents pitched their tents in those battered lands and fought pitched physical brawls and battles for a higher share of survivors to show back home. The ruling royals smilingly posed for photos as they flagged off relief material, as if it were an Olympic team. These materials were reportedly waiting for two days for appointment with the elite even as stranded people were scouring the skies and mountain sides for succour every second. And compounding and complicating all this was the me-first media that converted the calamity to a competitive celebration in breaking news over broken lives and livelihoods. Everyone claimed to be on Ground Zero even while on shifting and submerging grounds!
The only thing Indian was the pervasive presence of the defence forces. They not only rescued lakhs from the fury of nature but also salvaged the nation’s integrity and insulated it from parochial and provincial politicians. A salute of gratitude is quite in order.
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