Apparently, power shortages are not for the powerful. A drive on Mount Road, Teynampet, past the DMK HQ Anna Arivalayam, on Tuesday night, a full 24 hours after the late leader’s 100th B-anniversary, was very illuminating … quite literally. The Sun never seems to set on K’s Dravidian empire too what with the Rising Sun shining forth in splendour well past twilight and the entire area as lit up and bright as a typical Chennai summer day. For that matter, even during daytime last week, the lights were apparently on in full glow, particularly at the State fete, making the days probably like summer on the sun itself. Despite a HC order to curtail wasteful power consumption during public functions, the sound and light shows went on in all rational bliss.
That in a nutshell is the state of the State. The ruling classes and the ruled masses are as much in contrast as day and night. The former revels in self-cultivated, self-centred, self-congratulatory celebratory oblivion, while the latter sweats it out in never-ending darkness and despair. And leading the Dravidian parivar from the front is the ultimate rationalist, K .. er, Dr Dr K K. His gross insensitivity to the people’s plight and his deep allergy to prudent governance are only matched by his obsession with his own glory, which according to him and his co-borns, is higher than infinity! Some of the scenes being witnessed in rational TN begs recall if only to show how distant and divorced the CM is to the cm, read, common man, even while being one with his ego all the time.
We will not delve into K’s crush for cinema for two reasons: Much has already been written in this space and will be when the next kalaimamani awards are announced or when filmdom seeks to thank ‘their’ CM for any new sops by organising sizzling dance shows. Also, when it comes to cinema there is an uncanny convergence of interest for both the CM and cm rather than conflict. So, there is a case for sparing our Cine Minister, pardon, Chief Minister, albeit temporarily, for rajas and prajas deserve each other. However, even without celluloid, the CM is otherwise most preoccupied, but people hardly figure in his ‘hectic and busy schedule’! Anna’s centenary celebrations were a glaring example of how governance and public interest can be buried in personal nostalgia, much of which are only claims and, therefore, unverifiable.
If the purpose was to glorify Anna then the shenanigans carried out in his name were hardly flattering. For one, how does it enhance the fame of Anna when convicted criminals are let loose in the public sphere? Or is it K’s way of expressing his contempt for the judiciary and rule of law? Granted that the new legal dictum in this rational land is ‘Judges propose, K disposes’, but pray, how were the lucky ones chosen? I have never understood the rationale behind unhooking crooks to commemorate supposedly great souls. So, while it is customary for convicts to be released on such ‘auspicious’ occasions, TN has set a record of sorts in numbers, freeing over 1400, many of whom are convicted for murder and equal crimes. Anna talked of seeing god in the smiles of the poor; he never mentioned criminals and their cocky grins.
Another rational punch came in the form of a sudden declaration of a holiday on 15 Sep. The announcement was made on Sunday, 14 Sep, late in the evening. That Anna’s followers would not mind burning twilight oil to perpetuate his legacy, whatever it is, is no surprise, but was not A’s B day a foregone fact? Why the belated dawn of rational wisdom? Would it not have helped if the announcement had been made along with other schemes so that the weekend, including the equally sudden Onam holiday on Friday, could have been more purposefully and peacefully spent beyond the borders of cacophonous TN? The State holiday notification exhorted the people to ‘understand the significance of the occasion and act fittingly’. The people took the cue and thronged cinemas, that is after they were done with serials and special movies on the Idiot box. In any case, Anna too was a famed script-writer and would not have objected!
The high point, of course, was the realisation of Anna’s dream that only K was privy to: Re 1 per kg of rice. Anna had in the mid-sixties talked of three padis for Re 1, and then amended his promise to a minimum of one padi for the said rupee. And even this truncated project was abandoned quietly after a pompous start. But after forty years, such a dubious dream is being resurrected. But dreams don’t factor in inflation or rice availability, nor do they care about the already burdened and corrupted PDS. Another four hundred crores of public money goes down the drain to join the massive wastes at the bottom accumulated by earlier freebies. As days pass one can bet on K, who has exclusive rights, to unfold more of Anna’s dreams, even if they turn fiscal nightmares. May Anna grant us the heart to bear his troublesome thambis!
Of course, there’s no point complaining; our rationalists are beyond earshot. K spent the evening of Sep 15 in a poetic conference on Anna, in which Anna was hailed most for ‘nurturing’ K! And even if criticism does remotely register on their radar, the best you get is a long, emotional poem loaded with casteist innuendos and personal pique in choice epithets, of course, in chaste Tamil. Poetic justice! Even MSingh at least wakes up and yawns after a blast. S Patil may change attire like a filmy hero in the midst of a duet but he does visit the blast site if only to display his new suit. But the Ks and their co borns are oblivious to the time bombs ticking under the nation. Any talk of terror will likely be drowned by the din of flatterers!
And the celebs are not done yet. Come Sunday, the DMK will dispense honours, for the sake of Anna, for sure. Guess what? MK who is two thirds of DMK will get the Periyar Award, Arcot Veerasamy gets the Anna award and Stalin gets the ‘coveted’ Kalaingar award as givers and receivers alternate on the dais. How much they respect ‘self’! May be there should be a A.Veerasamy award for the EB lineman who switches off the transformer fastest. Anyway, here’s a tip for those interested … in keeping off, that is, …: The function venue will be easy to spot; after A.Arivalayam that’s the only place that’ll be alight through day and night. More power to the most powerful!
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