Lost in the wilderness

You have to hand it out to the Tamil Maanila Congress for proving beyond all reasonable and unreasonable doubts, as well, that it represents the real Congress in the State. This genetic truth is there for everyone to see, with the TMC displaying all the characterestics that its parent outfit is notorious for.

Be it indecisiveness, penchant for piggy-back or the high-command syndrome, you name it and it is all prevelent in ample measure in the off-spring too, putting paid to its own claims that it is a party with a difference. After four years, the TMC has not only lost its way on the political terrain but has sunk deeper into the wilderness, shedding its credibility, objectives and even the much bandied about self-respect in the process. It is a pity that the neo-generation of TN will never get see what Kamaraj-rule that they so often hear of is all about

But then, Kamaraj-rule of the TMC brand is not the only dream that lies in ruins. Touted in the media-which is guilty of making a mountain of this molehill- as the messiah who could grant deliverence from the torrid thirty-year dravidian rule, the TMC has now degenerated into a mere running dog of either of the two dravidian parties, thereby shattering whatever hopes the people of TN entertained about an alternative to Anna’s wretched legacy that had only progressively pushed the State into a destructive spiral, even while the legacy itself thrives admirably in palatial bungalows and distant satellites.

The TMC today stands as a tell-tale symbol of the perceived political reality that there could be no life in TN without the overwhelming presence of either of the two Kazhagams in positions of power, presiding over its fortunes, quite literelly at that. If it is not Sun TV, it would be Jaya TV for sure. The TMC would stand guarantee for that. As for K-rule, it is safely interred along with Kamaraj in his grave!

It is not that the TMC offered a winnable option as opposed to the two dravidian parties or that its leadership represented a miraculous change from the painful rhetoricians of the kazhagams. But the existence of a non-dravidian option, even if it is only a token presence would have kept the doors open for some adventurist to make a bid to save the State at a later date.

But by prematurely calling it quits even without making an attempt, the TMC has certainly killed any such chance in the foreseeable future, thereby doing a great disservice to the State for posterity.

The anguish could be better understood if only one imagines the ‘might-have-beens’ in the context of the TMC. When its leaders first broke ranks with the Congress on the eve of the general elections, their only grouse was the high command’s decision to align with the ‘corrupt’ AIADMK, ignoring their lgitimate feelings and warnings.

It is a different matter that these feelings have become illegitimate now and the TMC’s Raison d’ etre no longer exists, but the point is not that. Having decided to walk out of the Congress in a fit of pique, the TMC leaders should have had the good sense and guts to go it alone in the polls, come what may.

Had they done that then, when the entire State was in the grip of an anti-AIADMK mood, and not a pro-DMK sentiment, mind you, the TMC could well have reaped the euphoria much to its advantage. A TMC solo show in 1996 would have generated some empirical electoral data on the relative strengths of the three parties which in turn would have given an indication of the possibility of any light at the end of the dravidian tunnel of darkness.

It would have also been a small step in the direction of the TMC’s pet buzzword, Kamaraj rule, whatevaer that meant, though it is my hunch that it could not have been worse than Anna rule. Instead, they found themselves in the company of a self-confessed palmgrove fox whose wily brain was quick to sense the mood and short changed the TMC in no time.

While Karunanidhi understood the advantages of an alliance with the TMC in his bid for power, the latter was solely guided, or rather, misguided by its own apprehensions of an impending re-run of Jaya regime, its only obsession at that time that made them blind to the DMK chief’s own past record as certified by Sarkaria and his favourite past-time of tiger riding that cost Rajiv- Moopanar’s leader, incidentally-his life.

And so it was that while Karunanidhi made the act of ‘accomadating’ the TMC seem like a gesture of benign charity towards a ‘good old friend’, the TMC itselfwas quite content to accept gratefully whatever was proffered, all in the name of opposition unity–in reality, a euphemism for cold-feet and spinelessnes that is characterestic of congressmen from time immemorial.

The party had a second chance coming its way, last year, to break free from and instead, take on the might of the dravidian parties, something these congressmen, when not in pillion, always dream of doing. But then, when opportunity knocks, the TMC will scoot as is its wont because it detests dilemma and hates decision making even more, even while adopting procrastrination as a paramount party policy.

And as fate would have it, this miserable party is often confronted by uncomfortable choices that warrant taking decisions, something that is anathema to its leader. Having jumped out or rather, having got eased out, of the DMK bandwagon, the TMC decided to bet on secularism and in pursuit of this flimsy gamble, eventually merged into the AIADMK front, thereby covering the distance it had so assiduously maintained with ‘corruption’.

The confusion in this regard too was so rampant that no one knows the exact date on which the TMC and AIADMK consummated their marriage. But there they were, Moopanar and Jayalalitha, one fine evening at one of those ubiquitous Iftars, sipping soup and supping together even while announcing their sudden concern over the rise of communalism.

It was indeed a very strange but memorable sight, watching the TMC leaders warming up to Jayalalitha. While the latter had every reason to beam, the former could do little but to count the chips on the floor mosaics. But what a slide for such self-respecting souls!

At times one wonders if it would be better if the TMC leaders do not decide at all, for if they do, things only take a turn for the worse for the party and its cadre. There is little difference between the party’s present position and its decision to join hands with the DMK in 1996, both being dictated by desperation and loneliness.

With the TMC imitating a toddler who had got lost in a carnival, it is eternally on the look out for a helping hand that it can hold on to and to take them home, or even to doom. If it was Karunanidhi in the past, it is Jayalalitha now; it could be Sonia later but the TMC leaders would never take the risk of venturning out without a matronly caretaker-ally looming over them, for they know not where to go.

There is, however, no dearth for brave talk and no other party has exploited the satellite TV boom as theTMC had done. Not a day passes without either Peter Alphonse, SRB or Jayanthi Natarajan holding forth on the virtues of the TMC and its leader on the tube.

While they spent the first three and half years deriding ‘Jayalalitha and her corrupt ways’ the past six months have been one of genuine repentance, not only for the aforementioned derision but also for their ill-conceived dalliance with the ‘then-secular-now-communal’ DMK.

Needless to say, they have promptly switched channels, and while the tunes have changed, there is no dilution in the gusto with which they are now articulating their current fads although they have now swithched channels. And they claim they are different! And lest I forget, happy birthday to them!

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