SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA
ARCHIVES

Thank you, Amma!

You cannot fake orgasms every time. You can either do it or you can't. Pretences are of no help when you are running an inept, feeble government in the full glare of public opinion. That's the simple lesson our new prime minister has learnt during the past week. Much to his embarrassment.

Curiously, the lesson was not taught to him by his rivals in the political Opposition. It was taught to him by one of his own alliance partners. Jayalalitha Jayaram. A formidable battle tank of a woman if I have ever known one. I ought to know because I had to defend myself and my colleagues against her. In several defamation cases during her years in power. When she ruled Tamil Nadu like a modern day Chengiz Khan. What I enjoyed most during our battles was her absolute cool. Her attitude.

She never gave an inch without a good fight.

As chief minister, she did exactly what she wanted. She was tough, ruthless, enormously corrupt. But, what is most interesting, she was never on the defensive because of that. She believed it was her divine right to rule over the state. Flagrantly violating most norms of civilised politics.

She pampered her friends, harrassed her enemies, terrorised those who did not crawl before her. She flaunted her wealth, protected her allies, challenged the law enforcers to do their worst. She went to jail, yes. But she ultimately proved that no jail can hold back a politician who refusesto cower. The very people who voted her out of power called her back in the next election and gave her nominees a thundering victory. The message was clear: Come back, Amma, all is forgiven.

So she has. And how.

She has come back not only to terrorise the DMK government, who have no idea whether they will survive the next fortnight, despite a clear verdict by the Union home ministry that there is no valid reason to destabilise them. Despite the judgment that gave them a clear chit in the Rajiv Gandhi murder case. Despite the fact that everyone knows they have done nothing they can be dismissed for. But so powerfully placed is Jayalalitha today -- in both Tamil Nadu and the Centre -- that no one is ready to pick a fight with her. They would rather say yes and keep the government going for a few weeks more. It is day to day survival for the BJP-led alliance and the oxygen supply is from the AIADMK.

So Vajpayee, whether he likes it or not, has to listen to Jayalalitha.

More important, he has no choice but to accept what she says. Otherwise, she can simply pull his government down.

If you think that would make things tough for her, given the huge clutch of pending cases against her and her cronies, you are wrong. Amma doesn't give a damn. She has built bridges with Sonia Gandhi and can, at the drop of a white kerchief, switch over and instal a Congress-led government at the Centre without batting an eyelid. Her nondescript nominees will all be accomodated in the new arrangement and will not hesitate to pursue the same agenda that they are currently pursuing -- of ensuring that Amma gets a clean chit in all the cases that have been registered against her by different law enforcement agencies.

But that is not the issue any more. The issue right now is: Is Jayalalitha right when she accuses Vajpayee of hypocrisy and doublespeak?

Her latest letter, on Saturday, hit bull's eye. How can Sedapatti Muthiah be asked to quit the Union Cabinet just because a Madras court framed charges against him for corruption when others in Vajpayee's Cabinet have far worse cases pending against them?

In fact, Jayalalitha reinforced her argument by asking Muthiah to promptly resign. Which he did, in exactly 24 hours. Leaving Vajpayee with no fig leaf to hide his shame. His Communications Minister Buta Singh is a prime accused in the JMM bribery case. He was also a prime accused in the infamous Jain hawala case. In fact, the Supreme Court ruled last week that the trial against Singh must proceed apace.

Jayalalitha's letter coincided with a huge expose in the press, showing how Buta Singh and his sons have been ignoring summons from the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax authorities for violations of FERA and holding assets far in excess of their known means of income. The violations exceed Rs 100 million and Singh may find it difficult to escape the dragnet this time.

Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde's case looks worse. He was found guilty by the Kuldip Singh Commission of misusing his office as Karnataka chief minister to parcel out 110 acres of prime land in Bangalore to his son-in-law Manu Nichhani. The report was adopted by the Union Cabinet and the matter is pending with the Karnataka Lok Ayukta for Hegde's prosecution.

That apart, Jayalalitha argues, Hegde was also found guilty in the COD inquiry of pocketing Rs 25 million, being the commission given by AG Telefunken to NGEF, a public sector unit. The Union Cabinet, has approved the CBI's filing of an FIR against Hegde and moving the special court for a letter rogatory to the German government. In other words, prosecution against him is imminent and unavoidable.

She does not stop at these two cases. She moves on to others as well.

There is apparently a FERA case pending against Urban Development Minister Ram Jethmalani where the prime minister's sanction has been sought to prosecute him under Section 8 (1) of FERA.

Similarly, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi are principal accused in the criminal conspiracy to destroy the Babri Masjid. While it can be argued that this is essentially a political case, its criminal implications are not easy to ignore. As also the basic thrust of Jayalalitha's argument that all Cabinet ministers must be equal in the eye of the law and the prime minister. You cannot force one to resign and fete the others.

Let us not sidestep this argument -- that the prime minister must not include in his Cabinet people involved in criminal cases -- by calling Jayalalitha a dirty blackmailer or Subramaniam Swamy a wrecker of reputations. Who cares what tactics they use to achieve their political goals? The real issue is the one Jayalalitha has raised: Can Vajpayee promise India a clean government and then pack his Cabinet with people accused of heinous crimes?

Can the BJP speak of stable, able governance and woo a notorious crook like Sukh Ram openly? Should it be allowed to preach morality in public life and pack its ministry in UP with ugly murderers and despicable history sheeters?

A month is over now. The euphoria is fading out. It's time for hard realities. Whatever Jayalalitha's faults may be, she has brought a crucial issue centrestage. The fact that she is part of the government makes her points doubly pertinent. It is no use badmouthing her. The prime minister must clean up his act.

How readers reacted to Pritish Nandy's last column

Pritish Nandy