The art of Ransom

Being shrewd is a virtue that can take you where you may wish. And that too when you're pulling the strings of a diverse land spread over 3ooo kms from north to south. You may come and give me a black eye if you think iam talking about our dear Mohna (Manmohan Singh). Iam talking about the most familiar face in India after Mahatma and Nehru. Doctor Artist Muthuvel Karunanidhi, leader of THE most powerful party in Tamil Nadu, and the party with as many as 7 ministers sitting in the Lok Sabha. This play maker can make or break the running at the center. And he has shown just how much he can extract to his advantage. Three issues come and keep banging thoughts when one wants to list out his mastery over giving New Delhi sleepless nights that i suspect MK would do justice by paying Manmohan Singh's bypass surgery bill. Since he has such a hand in things, personally my choice to replace our PM at the republic day parade would be Kalaingar. But alas his SSCP stand has made him untouchable to many in the Hindi heartland who consider Lord Ram a part of popular folklore. OK, lets dive in:

1. The unrivalled Tamil leader: Kalaingar is a brave man. Alright maybe not, but he considers his loyal partymen as lion hearted. What a week it was. People of Chennai were having a squalor in their homes, with Lord Varuna in unleashed fury ( Had MK's habitual anti-hindu retorics irked him? Nah!). Varuna was motivated this time, he wouldn't cease, as he was giving a fitting reply to who were castigating him for long absence from work (Don't include me among them, I am averse to rain). But indeed Varuna had an example beneath him to follow and take a lesson on doing one's duty. Arcot Veerasamy, K Anbazhagan and other veterans stood in the rain braving their fragile age, in total commitment to their cause. The human chain formed in protest of poaching (tiger poaching) in Sri lanka was tens of kilometers long in various parts of the city. College students fought the urge to watch tv at home after college closed and took inspiration from the veterans to join the chain. Maybe they bargained for a signed letter from Veerasamy mentioning a week long OD for them, after they may fall ill standing in the rain. Motorists were stranded in the rain and chain and movement was a hassle, but they thought of the plight the veterans were going through at their age.
You may say they have nothing to do unlike daily bread earners. You are wrong. For the first time in years Tamil Nadu power generation establishments are running short on supplies. The state was reeling under power cuts of varied durations, with even the state capital enduring 1.5-2 hrs a day, and over 4 hrs a day in other districts. Yet our Electricity Minister, Arcot K Veerasamy was steadfast on being loyal to his party leader. Mills in Tiruppur were shutting down, Agricultural workers were whining about low procurement prices, Truckers were striking, all and what not was going on. Yet Anbazhagan (finance min) and TR Baalu (Highways and shipping min) have taught us a valuable lesson- Loyalty to your supremo.
All this have been endured by MK (or atleast his next in seniorities) for the cause of the tamils across the sea. But MK may be too far-sighted behind those darkened spectacles. His foremost duty is to take care of this side of the Indian Ocean. The pressure applied on the center for demanding a cease-fire in favor of our former PMs assassinators, could have been spent on demanding Sushil Kumar Shinde a solution to the power crisis in the state. There are riots and communal clashes tearing apart Uthapuram and villages in Villupuram. Claiming to be in line with EVR Periyar (dont get me wrong but i have plenty of reason to not like this person) these ought to be bigger concerns for MK. Yet MK held the country to ransom. He threatened with the pull-out of ministers from the cabinet if Pranab and co didn't act fast to save the Tiger. The old statesman frenzied to Chennai, met MK and only after timely action and distribution of relief was assured did he, to the relief of the Congress which had just recently survived a Trust Vote on the floor, ask his party ministers to stay where they are.
But MK has proved why he is the unmatched politician. Just months ago his sons rivalled over survey polls and burnt down offices, which strangely led to the birth of new tv channels, and dish tv services, that in turn led to fights between cable operators and networks and yada-yada-yada ....... and they united back and another yada-yada-yada........he's seen as the Tamil Leader, as Thol Thirumavalavan was ready to die for his leader's people's cause but only for another tamil political enigma Ramadoss who had left MK returned over the Tamil Tiger issue, as MK is the tamil leader, who else to turn to.
And the tamil leader he is. He gives us Rice a kg at oru roobaih and color tv. Even if we cant run our pumpsets we can still eat and watch tv. So we have voted him back at Thirumangalam, and also because there's no one else we can choose. (The TINA- there is no alternative factor).

2. Sethusamudram is a myth:Some years ago a google satellite image had shown a underwater bridge connecting northern Sri Lanka to Danushkoti. To MK it had also shown ships being carried by its crew across the mythical bridge and then being placed back on water after they had carried it across the bridge. To hell with ecosystems and biospheres. Detsroy the bridge. After all, no one can appreciate life under water except for divers. Equality is the mantra. In the tsunami the Adam's bridge barraged and impeded the monster's speed and as a result it was preferential treatment to Tuticorin, Kanyakumari, Tiruchendur and Rameswaram while Nagapattinam, Cuddalore etc bore the brunt. How dare it strike the land of the Tamil Tigers as opposed to better targets?? If Adam's bridge failed to help NE Lanka then it shall not exist.

The case lies in the SC, dredging is at a standstill and environmentalists, archaeologists and MKs men are at loggerheads. 6 alignments were proposed and one of them (no.5 i think) leaves the Adam's Bridge unharmed. But for reasons which we can only assume, MK isn't finding anything except the present one acceptable.
MK is so anxious of the SSCP like a pregnant mother that he defied a SC order and held a bandh past october, only to later deny of such doings after threats were issued of imposing article ### (356 i think) and immediately set the house in order. The state was accused of being in constitutional abrogation. Experts say that the SSCP is just a short-term benefit, with minimal fuel savings, and with development of Tuticorin and other ports, with the increase in number of high capacity, high tonning container ships, the canal would seldom serve a worthy purpose after having destroyed a rarest of ecosystems.
MK then found full form after washing off Lord Ram and Sethu a myth, and thus inflamming the passions of people in the north. An extreme VHP leader (yes i call extremists what they are) went to the extent of putting a price on MKs head.

3. 50,000 crore, no big deal for MK: I confess im less educated on this issue. But i do know of Andimuthu Raja's famous scandal as the Minister of Telecommunication and IT. Spectrum is a rare resource. In the previous NDA government, the price was fixed after, i dunno a evaluative auction or some other method. Anyway a price was fixed and spectrum was sold to service providers at those rates. Raja announced spectrum sale to interested buyers just around 15 or so days before the actual sale. It was sold at under-valued prices, at prices defined by the previous NDA govt, without re evaluating the prices, or as experts want, by auctioning it. As a result the country lost 50,000 crore in national exchequer, some claiming it to be over 100,000 crore now. This is said to be India's biggest ever scandal, but lucky fellow Raja has escaped due to timely help from Ramalinga Raju. A scandal of this scale by a totally careless procedure is a serious issue. One wonders whether Dayanidhi Maran would have been allowed to be indicted in fraud had he still been the IT min after fallout with the MK family. Instead it's been a boon for both Dayanidhi and Raja. Dayanidhi didn't earn the name of a scandalist, and Raja still has the support from MK, who claimed Raja followed the procedures. And that's all that matters. The Left were calling for sacking Raja happily now that they had broken away from the DPA. This is a scandal not to be forgotten. Poor people in the center didn't know how to handle the issue. They will now be thankful that the issue is forgotten.

No wonder our PM lies in the hospital, that too of heart problems. It is a probably the most peaceful time of his last 5 years. Atlast someone else will have to dance to MK's music now. Something that Mohna sweated heavily on.