By : T R Jawahar, E-Mail : [email protected]
Saturday, 29 April 2017
As the Dinakaran Touring Talkies rolls cross country, are we really surprised? Nah! And who said the notorious M. Mafia only take and don’t give bribes? Of course they pay. How else you think they lasted this long?
After J’s passing, there were some raids. But they were tentative. The current trigger is RK Nagar and the fire power seems stronger. Should we believe the Centre is really serious this time? It better be because the illicit stashes of cash on parade presently are just a tip of the immense iceberg that was buried under Marina sands with State honours in Dec! And a live iceberg is sitting not-so-pretty in a Bangalore prison.
A survey claims TN is the third most corrupt State in India. I thought we were numero uno what with corruption being the prime economic activity here. Maybe we slipped after September 22, further from December 5 and then fell after Feb 14. Dates are vital here. The successors aren’t as smart as the sinister sisters. They should go just on this count. The ‘party’ is over.
Whatever, but instead of straining to repeat for the n’th time in these columns, I take the easy, lazy route of ‘cut & paste’ journalism, albeit, from what I wrote three months back:
At last the time of awakening for Rip Van Winkle alias Centre appears to have arrived w.r.t TN, perennially down, and under water, wind, wasted decades and what not!
The BJP rode to power on an anti-corruption wave. But its selective slumber since then vis-a-vis TN despite ominous, obvious wake-up explosions and exposures of sleaze evoked little reaction and nil action. And now, out of the blue, the true colours of the State that has been in the red for long is being painted as primarily black with several shady shenanigans darkening the hues further.
So, what made R.V.Winkle stir, shake and swing into action suddenly? J’s demise! If de-M were the reason, the raids would have happened in the 4 weeks since Nov 9 and prior to Dec 5/6. Many murky deals were on outside when the choreographed charade was going on inside the hospital. But the Centre treated the present sinners like profound saints then, believing and acting on the script put out by these sinister schemers stationed outside the sterile sanctum of a solitary ward. And even the dullest of donkeys wouldn’t advance the theory that the officials, politicos and their cohorts turned corrupt overnight, the moment J was declared dead.
Indeed, just as everyone here knew, the Centre too knew, and in greater detail, that the thread ran all the way to J’s life and times. All those under a cloud now, the officials, their unofficial lackeys and political backers were basking cheerfully in the bountiful sunshine afforded by those right on top. But Winkle just chose to wink at it all, feigning sleep and fighting shy to take on the prima donna here, for some strange reason. This criminal inaction has cost the State dear, and how dear will be known as the sleuths dig deep and deeper. And the damage is not just financial, but the destruction of a State and dashed hopes of its people.
This land is unique. Here there is many a slip between ‘dead’ and ‘declared dead’. TN is a pioneer of big scandals that made the backfired booms of Bofors seem like a burp. If it was Sarkaria certified scientific corruption in seventies, the nineties were when special courts topped the charts, next only to Brig Veerappan’s lair, as media haunts. Sensitive cases were routinely transferred to neighbouring States, a judicial escape from the rulers! CMs were routinely convicted and arrested for corruption. So were Central Ministers soaked in spectrum scum. As were Chief Secretaries and a Minister of the current regime.
The State’s much touted self-respect flag is indeed flying high. Now that Winkle has woken, we expect him to go the whole hog, rip every suspected official, councillor and politico of ill-gotten wealth and load the IT vans with the booty. We assure there is enough to wipe out the fiscal deficit and/or farmers’ debt!
We hope Rip.V.Winkle remains awake and agile and does not get tempted by the elixir of striking deals with the devils here. Or go to sleep in all-too-familiar-fatigue.
Tail piece: Thanks for reading this for the n’th time, that is, if you really did. And I hope I don’t have to ‘re-repeat’ this piece again.
e-mail the writer at [email protected]