It is quite frustrating for a self-styled political ‘calumnist’ to be pushed into a forced sabbatical, particularly during poll time when professional, patriotic and personal calls of duties beckon. The mental pain is much the more when it is your arms, the deliverer of wisecracks and wisdom via the keyboard, that are the target of fate. Indeed, whoever used the metaphor ‘hands are tied’ to describe helplessness was not exactly being metaphorical but quite literal!
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The forthcoming Parli polls took on the shades of a US style Presidential poll in popular thinking the moment Modi emerged as the BJP’s PM candidate. The party itself, despite a wide cadre and leader base, long-standing traditions of collective leadership and strong idelogical moorings, did not hesitate to pin its whole fate on that one chosen man.
81.5 crores, or 815 million. What’s the big deal? Indeed, for those jaded by scam numbers like Rs 1.76 lakh crores of spectrum, incalculable lakhs of crores of coal to the latest Rs 850 crore Rolls Royce kickback, the figure mentioned in line 1 would seem like small change. But we are for a change talking about people. And of course, about the momentous, massive change that those people can usher in.
Political bird-watching as a pastime is always such fun. Typically, poll times always trigger the migratory instincts of politicos and the current season is no exception. This week particularly displayed a marked escalation of activity across many party aviaries. The political air is suddenly thick with heavy, haywire traffic.
The support and effort to get Rajiv killers out of jail, though outrageous to many, fits perfectly into TN’s political scheme. Here tiger-riding is a populist past-time, particularly during poll-time and no politico would miss an opportunity to score a goal or two. But the striking unanimity amidst all political players here, a unanimity that has evolved most in the post-Prabhakaran era, also goes beyond possible poll gains and straddles the realms of sentiment.
The week started ominously enough. The bankers’ strike on Monday and Tuesday was quickly followed as in a relay by two days of strike by Central Government staff of TN. But then all that pales in comparison to the paralytical strike that the Centre itself has lapsed into, what with a rowdy Parli and a dysfunctional administration looming over us.
The nastiest thing about dynastic politics is the way inheritors take the people and party for granted. Their self-obsession is such that their divine right is deemed sacred and secure, beyond question. The only issues that need settling are either the timing and tactics in case of a sole heir or ‘heir’-splitting over power, in case of two or more. Needless to add, the original sin of emboldening the inheritor and encouraging their audacities lies with the patriarch, or for that matter, matriarch. What needs to be added, on balance, is that the inheritor may also play the Bhasmasura act on his blood benefactor!
Sivaji Ganesan or Sardar Patel do not need sculpting in stone to sustain themselves in people’s memories. Their immortality has been sealed for posterity in more stable, secure and superior portals. Indeed, several past greats who have been put up for public view in the last few decades often for petty political purposes, would have squirmed at a such suggestion in their life time.
I have always wondered where politicos derive their energy and motivation from. A well paying vocation that actually pours as you move up the slippery sleazy ladder probably accounts for that. If scandals and defeats and court cases do not deter them, surely the stakes are worthy enough and as a result, pockets have got deep enough to weather all those incidental experiences and expenses. The parallel thickening of the skin also acts as a failsafe insulation. Small wonder we see so many fossils defying normal evolutionary rules and survive in all glory.