The week ended saw the shifting of national focus from sethubandhanam to sethubandh. Now, TN’s rationalists would like the world to believe that both did not happen: There was no bridge and there was no bandh. The irrational populace of the State, however, believes otherwise: It is learnt that the influx of devotees to Rameshwaram has swelled. And all of us know for a fact that last Monday was no manday! Indeed, it looks no sethu can bridge the gap between the claims of the rulers and the experiences of the ruled. But be it bandhanam or bandh, as the dust slowly settles down on the tumultous events of the past few days, one can surely perceive both silver linings and sore thumbs.
That the SC was ready to sit on a holiday to salvage a working day was most laudable. The Madras HC having played spoilsport earlier, the SC’s last-ball-sixer seemingly saved the day. But not the next, as K and his Kanmanis, did their best, rather their worst, to thwart the spirit of the SC ruling by playing foul even while crying foul. But we will come to that later. For a population fatigued by frequent bandhs and strikes, the SC’s ruling was surely music. But the notes started jarring the moment the SC floated the idea of imposing President’s rule in TN. Much as many here would want to see the DMK regime back in the pavilion, the Constitutional rule book simply does not allow for the ‘umpire’ to bowl. Also, the SC was hearing an AIADMK petition, not a PIL by a private citizen. A political minefield was, therefore, embedded. The SC could have ideally side-stepped it by simply stopping with the observations that the bandh-like scenario resembled a Constitutional breakdown and warranted a contemtpt action too. But by taking the next fatal step and stepping on the said minefield, the issue now is less about bandhs and ‘bandhers’ and more about judges and their activism. An avoidable diversion of the debate, indeed.
With the SC having, nonetheless, put the fear of the Lord in them, it is indeed gratifying to see the rationalists on the run. Arcot Veerasamy’s dada-like bluster that none can touch the DMK Government as long as the ‘two women’ are around in Delhi and bridge-buster Baalu’s blatant threats of impeaching the SC Judges notwithstanding, the ultimate rationalist himself appears to be on defence mode. Having had two of his earlier innings cut short by Art 356, K is in no mood for an action-replay. Not that the Centre is keen, for that would amount to dismissing itself, but for K the very mention of those numbers in that order is ominous. In jitters over that jinx, he is now at great pains to prove to the world that there was no bandh and even if there were signs of it, it was wholly unintended. Now, having just been equated to MK Gandhi by a Cong leader, should not MK try to live upto the Mahatma’s favourite obsession: Truth?
But the barrage of official lies is astounding. Sample this claim of K: ‘The Supreme Court orders staying theOctober 1 bandh were received only at 10.30 PM on September 30 … the State had made all arrangements possible…’. So it is his argument that his government could act only after the Court’s orders were ‘formally’ received which though a bit too late were adhered too as much as possible! This indeed is the height of self-serving rationalism. If the formal order was the pre-condition for K to act, why then did he announce a fast within minutes of the SC verdict in the afternoon of Sunday, Sep 30? Could not the fast call too have waited till’ late in the night’? Who is he trying to fool with that fast one?
The CM again says ‘people and workers were not in a position to get the news of the SC stay’. And he goes on to show this ‘fact’ as proof that there was ‘no scope for contempt’. Has the celebrated script-writer lapsed into some kind of Manohara memories – whence pigeons or men on horseback carried messages, auspicious or ominous? But the CM is no longer a mere mediaman, as he loves to say, but a media Moghul now. How could he have missed the sensational stuff emanating from the SC? The fact is, not just the CM but all the ‘people and workers’ of the State had come to know that the bandh has been switched off within seconds of the SC verdict! Every media worth its time or space, talked of little else. Really, whatever confusion that reigned in the public’s minds and midst was only over the intents and reactions of the rulers. The people were ready to work and shop. But there was no way they could reach their workplaces or find open shops! So, K should not be worrying about judicial contempt which pales before the people’s contemtpt that he had earned that day. But, to be invoking those very people as alibis for his wrongdoings calls for real gall.
But if that is the record of K, the rest of the political fraternity fare no better. J, for instance, has started talking about Ramasethu only very recently. Today, she says the whole project is bunkum while her party poll manifesto of just a year vintage pitches for it. In fact, when the SSCP was announced, there was a clamour amidst politicos of all hue here to claim credit for it. And Ramasethu was a bridge too far, beyond their political horizons, then. Again, the BJP is yet to come up with credible explanations for allegations that it was the NDA regime that gave the in-principle approval for the project. But after that notorious affidavit and K’s irreligious indiscretions, Rama has overnight become an encashable political coupon. Ramasethu is now a pretext for the AIADMK and the BJP to rebuild their alliance bridge that had seemingly collapsed for eternity after the Kanchi Acharya episode. Little wonder, the BJP has suddenly discovered that the DMK is an ideological enemy! Now, when were DMK & K overflowing with religious fervour?
The sudden political shenanigans over the Sethu have sidelined the true protagonists — long agitating swamijis and saadhus, the harried Hindu believers and their organisations, the dissenting environmen-telists, sceptical economic experts, affected locals etc. They can be trusted to remain committed long after the storm clouds have passed and the political vultures have vanished. But if Ramasethu were not to become another Ayodhya, ie, just a rath to Race Course Road, Lord Rama and his subjects should be wary of not just rational Ravanas but also Kaikeyis and Koonis in their midst!
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