July 9, 2001
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Dilip D'Souza
Ticket to Madras, By George
G eorge Fernandes, I notice, scurried to Madras at the head of an NDA team investigating the midnight goings-on recently. You know, the way Karunanidhi was slapped, pushed around and bundled off to jail. George
being the literate man of the NDA, I suppose, is regularly dispatched on
such errands, made to write various reports that say just about what his PM
wants to hear. Thus he was in Orissa after Graham Staines's murder , in
Bihar after assorted caste massacres, and now in Madras after Jayalalithaa
decided that becoming CM meant open season on Karunanidhi.
Power to George as he submits yet another report saying what his PM wants
to hear, this one decrying the shameless doings of the lady of Tamil Nadu.
But I wonder if George remembers scurrying to Madras before? Just two or
three years ago, when he was defence minister and Jayalalithaa was a vital
part of his government? So frequent were those trips George made, those
spells spent waiting for the large lady to grant him a few minutes to plead
his case, that R K Laxman even produced a delicious cartoon suggesting that
the defence ministry might better be situated at Poes Garden. Jayalalithaa's
home.
Funny how times change, eh George? In 1998, the woman's tantrums drew you
to Madras like a moth to a flame, over and over again. Then, you had to
pander to her whims, appease her every demand. You had to, because her
party was a major partner in your coalition and it was politically
inconvenient to displease her. No doubt all your reports reported just
that: give her what she wants, keep her happy. Too bad it was all in vain.
In April 1999, she pulled out of the coalition anyway and pulled down your
government.
In 2001, another of the same woman's tantrums draws you to Madras again.
Now, it's because she has chosen to arrest -- and, while arresting, assault
-- a major partner in your present coalition government. She seems to
believe it is her duty as CM of TN to visit revenge on a hated political
opponent, that man Karunanidhi. No doubt this report you've submitted
reports just what is politically convenient this year: she's done a
horrible thing, let's claim the moral high ground, what can we do to stop
her?
A strangely familiar feeling, George, writing a report on a trip to Madras?
Except, let me guess, it's somewhat different this time?
Think about it some more. In 1998, remember, there were special courts that
Karunanidhi's government in TN had set up, to try a whole sheaf of cases
against lady J. Since she was a partner in power in A B Vajpayee's central
government, her tantrums were really aimed at getting George and his PM to
slow down those trials to the point where they would not even move. No
doubt that's what she impressed weightily on the defence minister in those
Poes Garden trysts. That's why Vajpayee set his attorney general, Soli
Sorabjee, to argue for months in the Supreme Court that the special courts
were unlawfully constituted.
Of course, all that changed when she left that coalition and Karunanidhi
joined the new one. Suddenly, the special courts were just fine and had to
be left to do their work. And in fact, in recent months they have even
handed down a judgement or two indicting the lady. Which is just the point,
actually. When Jayalalithaa returned to power this May, she had only one
item on her agenda: revenge. For his relentless pursuit of those cases in
those special courts, Karunanidhi had to be taught a lesson. Thus the
sudden blossoming of the flyover scam, the midnight arrest and the slaps
administered by compliant police officers.
And thus the most recent Madras mission for George F.
Kind of full circle, wouldn't you say? Karunanidhi charges Jayalalithaa with
corruption, sets the legal process in motion against her. Fernandes,
Vajpayee and company work hard to delay and hinder it. Jayalalithaa ditches
them -- they didn't work quite hard enough, we must suppose -- and
Karunanidhi comes on board. Fernandes, Vajpayee and company stop
working to hinder the cases against lady J, and a while later the courts pronounce
judgement against her. Karunanidhi loses the TN assembly election to
Jayalalithaa. She charges him with corruption and claps him in jail. What
next, Fernandes, Vajpayee and company?
They forget, of course, that had they not actively delayed the cases
against her three years ago, by now she might just have been put away where
she belongs. In jail. I don't say that with conviction, but it was at least
a possibility.
What gets me in this whole sordid episode is hardly the rough treatment of
a frail nearly-80-year-old Karunanidhi. Nobody wants to see an old man
beaten, but our police were never known for their kid gloves anyway. And
after all, if the man is found to be involved in this flyover scam, give
him the severest possible punishment.
No, what is truly galling is Jayalalithaa's belief that she can use the
law-and-order machinery of the land as she pleases, whenever she wants, to
further her own interests. Then, to stall the proceedings against her. Now,
to attack Karunanidhi. More galling is that she is hardly the first Indian
politician, nor will she be the last, to behave in this fashion. From
Advani to Thackeray to Laloo, they are all experts in subverting the law.
And most galling is that such men as Fernandes and Vajpayee take the moral
high road, even pretend outrage at Jayalalithaa's antics. After all, it is
their connivance that helped her get to where she is, sitting pretty
without worry over trivial things like charges of corruption.
One evening some months ago, I found myself in the front row of a Calcutta
audience. Up on stage, a retired colonel and a very prominent Delhi
politician with an equally prominent bindi on her forehead took turns
to
whip the crowd into an anti-Pakistan frenzy. One thing they both mentioned,
separately but in nodding agreement, was that our neighbour to the west is
a "little chit" of a country, a half-baked failure. In comparison, we are a
"mature" nation, ready to take our rightful place in the world, ready to
look past mere chits. Judging from the wild cheering and applause all
around me, these were popular things to say that evening.
And that's why I recalled that evening when I heard the news from Madras. I
wondered what "mature" nation acquiesces in a large lady's evasion of the
law to the extent that she can actually take office as a state CM. I
wondered what this "maturity" means if the wheels of justice move only on
the dictates of political convenience.
Like the colonel and the politician, like the best of them in that Calcutta
audience, I want to believe that we are a strong, wise and mature country.
Except, I keep remembering the trips to Madras George Fernandes has made
in
the last few years.
Dilip D'Souza
