Relief! What a tragic irony, the word has turned out to be for the 42 unfortunates who perished in the course of being ‘rehabilitated’. Indeed, after losing their livelihood and possessions to the elements, life was all that was left in many of them. And that too has been snatched away by a conspiracy of human desperation and official negligence.
At the risk of repetition, it needs to be said that this was a wholly avoidable tragedy, unlike the natural ones that have been marking their attendance with alarming regularity. The untold human misery that accompanied the rain and floods, had already put the masses on edge and rendered them vulnerable to all kinds of machinations. The earlier day’s experience with delays, ‘short payments’ and tokens had added to their anxiety, bringing them to the spot the night before. That these people had even braved the incessant rains on that dark, damp night also proves their pathetic plight.There might have been rumours too, as it is officially touted, but it is also a fact that disillusionment and distrust of the relief mechanism was running high. So the helpless ‘beneficiaries’, obviously, did not want to take chances and miss out on the relief package that they genuinely needed. In spite of all the dark clouds, that was the elusive silver lining that those desperate people were eagerly looking for. And so when the gates opened unannounced, they all rushed in because it was their hearts that were racing, not their numb minds. To claim that the victims invited death upon themselves is, therefore, most insensitive and cruel.
Where were those drafted to protect them fiddling? And there was the benefit of hindsight as the Vyasarpadi incident had happened only last month, not in the last kalpa! So what if the rumour mongers or mischief makers worked overtime to bring in the crowds? Similar was the allegation then too! Reason enough to have been on guard.The crowds at the ill-fated school had gathered over a twelve hour period, not at any one point of time. But, the increasing presence of so many people so early somehow did not awaken the authorities. Nor were the people told to clear the place and come in the morning. Not that the call would have been heeded, given the mood of the people, but still that was a criminal omission. For worthless functions or processions, we often see the policemen outnumbering even the participants. But here were 4000 distraught people but hardly any police presence. Therein lies the original sin!
Though the rumour mongering could be no alibi for the lapses of the police, its contribution to the tragedy cannot also be ignored. The rumours that were flying thick and fast did play truant with the already jittery nerves of the victims. It beats us, as to why anyone should go around spreading mis-information, vis-a-vis of all things human misery, but some elements, it appears, were doing precisely that. But to believe that was the work of the usual anti-socials who routinely indulge in such acts after every public disaster would be naive. Rather, the subsequent happenings quite clearly reveal that the root of rumours lie deep in the muddy politics of the State.
Death and disasters are deemed boons in the diabolical dravidian politics of TN, a dubious distinction that is historically borne out. Here graveyards are political playgrounds and the politicos truly come alive at the sight of the dead. The recent flood disasters and relief were already raging political issues.The mutual mud-slinging had reached a feverish pitch, unmindful of the agony at the ground level. Add to that 42 corpses at one shot and at, of all places, a relief centre: It was a political opportunity of a lifetime. So no sooner was the last victim trampled to death, than the political vultures swooped down to scavenge on the fallout!
And in this cursed State, the political arena is no longer the sole battlefield. With both the primary protagonists controlling the two major TV media, it was a no-holds- barred satellite war. Each channel had its own chosen panel of speakers, besides handpicked locals, to put out for public consumption what their respective parent political parties wanted to. So as they went into overdrive, bits and bytes were piled up as evidence and it was a virtual trial on the screens of the idiot box. Only that there were two courts, each trying the other with its own chosen judges, witnesses and lawyers. And they had already hanged the other much before the trial itself! Indeed, the tragedy was dwarfed by the ugliness that was paraded on air! One dreads at the prospects, that too in an election year!
But has all this prime-time politics made the public any the wiser on what really happened that fateful night? Far from it! Aah, we only have versions, not the truth! For Mr Truth lies as securely buried beneath all the mud as those forty-two victims of human folly, never to see the light of day ever again!
e-mail the writer at [email protected]