By S. Sivathasan –

S. Sivathasan

For no less than nine years India was destined for benevolent times. A benign destiny propelled Narendra Modi to the helm as Prime Minister. His performance at home and the aura that grew alongside, caught the eye of the world. Modi’s eyes were rivetted in the South and most keenly on Tamil Nadu. There a man of destiny was emerging fast. He was Annamalai. In no time he caught Modi’s attention by his uncommon political talent, as early as in 2020. Came state elections in Karnataka in May 2023 and he was given the opportunity to demonstrate his ability at organization, leadership and winning seats. His performance was more than twice that of the native Kannadiga leadership.

Work in Advance 

In Tamil Nadu he had built a stronghold in the last three years. He had also gathered a good deal of information on the state’s Ministers, the Chief Minister, MLAs, other functionaries and all their escapades. With this database he was confident enough to plot the next course with those strategically placed in Delhi. When action was in full flush with List 1 released in mid-April for the nation’s study, the path was interdicted by Karnataka state election. List 2 is due shortly. The first one bearing names of Ministers and amounts stolen has been earth shattering in its impact. The second one will be equally devastating. The world will be aghast with the actions of the desperadoes, which hitherto were passing for patriotic exploits. 

Example of Communists

A century ago, a leader who emerged in Germany saw the need to correctly identify the best rallying point and the most potent hate symbol. The time was twenties in the last century. Very astutely he took a leaf from the Communist Parties of Europe. How did they set about? To them human misery flowed from exploitation of one class by the other and drew up the law that the history of the world is a history of class struggles. In the young German leader’s perception, the communists were smart enough to isolate a single cause of social degradation and that was exploitation. A single group was doing it; the capitalist class. The communists did not make the singular mistake of plurality and thereby destroy credibility. It is in the nature of humans not to accept a thesis, based on multiple factors. The remedy as they viewed it was, replacing the exploiter with the dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry. 

Leader in Waiting

To the leader in waiting in Germany, this was a huge lesson to be adroitly used for success. What was the immediate impact of post 1^st world war defeat on Germany? The most humiliating Treaty of Versailles spelling out; loss of territory, war guilt clause, reparations and only minimal rearmament. How painful they were only the more sensitive and perceptive could feel or understand. At this time in 1918, Mao Tse Tung a leader in China though not internationally known then, wrote to the European leaders thus:”You people think you have done something great. You do not realise that this will bring about a war in 10 or 20 years”. Prophetic. The German leader attributed the defeat and the misdemeanors to international Jewry and their anti-German activities. The movement for rectification followed thereafter and whatever the tragedies that followed, Germany in no more than 15 years, was in the forefront of the comity of nations.  

Advent of Annamalai   

A benign destiny of Tamil Nadu invited the most appropriate personality in 2020, for the state’s redemption. The invitee responded to the call and both are wiser by it. For three years they have laboured to delve deep into the manner in which the state is managed. In this time-span, intensive studies were made of the scale of honesty in public financial management, for two full years of the new DMK government. 

The revelations about the magnitude of swindling and plain robbery by the state’s ministers, their close relatives and their minions, are appalling. The culprits are named and some amounts running even to 9 and 10 digits against them, are also specified in the media both print and electronic. With what result? Those accused are profuse in their professions of lily white innocence. Those accused are accusing the accusers! What else can injured innocence do?   

It is 47 days since truth was out. Most in their ‘innocence’ and those apprehensive with their sense of guilt, fearing inclusion in List 2 are seeking shelter. They are like a cat on a hot tin roof, running helter skelter, to hide themselves or their hoard. There is no escape, is known to the more intelligent. The noose however was tightening around the biggest of the rough necks. Central agencies like the CBI. Enforcement Division, Income Tax and the National Investigating Agency have all swooped in on Chennai or are on the prowl. 

The Worst of a bad tribe, elated with his official appellation, designated his sibling to do the needful. The result? High officials of Income Tax Department were attacked and some including 2 ladies were hospitalized. Their official vehicles were damaged. Now several teams have come in unison, fanned out to rowdy areas and have investigated for 6 days at a stretch, together with army protection.

Impunity and Immunity 

What explains this disastrous phenomenon? In the dispensation of the DMK in the major portion of the 56 years 1967-2023, impunity was the unwritten law and immunity the practice. Anarchy is the outcome as we see it in May-June 2023. Whatever happens, Bommai Judgement will prevail and Article 356 will be ineffectual. The states of the Indian nation have to forget about dissolution and make do with Article 356 as circumscribed by Bommai judgement. Disruptions by a contending party have to be stopped administratively by the Police or the Army. 

Exposure of Corruption and the Current Situation

The impasse we see is apparently for the first time in India’s history after independence. It may also be the first instance the Bommai Judgement’s validity and efficacy are being acid tested. Recently suspension of the Agricultural law to stop sustained disruption by Punjabis, was  central government’s withdrawal before insolent might. Closure of Vedhanta copper factory in Thuthukudi is another. Can the state stop a not too neat situation without the intervention of the long arm of the law? 

What brought Tamil Nadu to this juncture. The rise of a man of no mean intellectual prowess, blessed with unshakeable inclination to change the character of the people and to redirect their aspirations. One of the rarest to change their orientations through an educative process in matters relevant to the growth of the state. It was never in him to appraise their views to develop his thought processes. He has had enough. The need now was to convey to them the political realities, to change their approaches amidst fresh ambitions. It is a changing Tamil Nadu that we are seeing with Annamalai at the helm in Tamil Nadu.

Drawing the Electorate to His Side  

Taking the cue from the communists, the BJP seniors in Tamil Nadu avoided multi picking. Corruption was most salient. Corruption, more corruption and excessive corruption had riddled every pore of civic life in Tamil Nadu. Like cancer it had spread without restraint to the entire body politic, for no less than half a century. No political headway could be made without terminating it root and branch. It was the resolve of Annamalai. The top governmental leadership in Delhi concurred with him. The BJP leadership in Tamil Nadu, supported by its committed lieutenants and grassroots cadres, set out to investigate to a finish. Unfailingly, the fatter ones apprehended are from the DMK, with longer terms in the state cabinet. Go without relent to the logical end is the commitment of the centre and the state. With sharks in the net, sprats are in jitters.

Liquor Business – The Hate Symbol

Trusting to the judgement of the German leader, on getting at the most despised hate symbol, BJP chose Liquor Business, under state aegis, to be the most potent hate symbol. DMK won the seats to power on the pledge of closing down all liquor shops in the state. Far from shutting down, they honeycombed the state with more and more shops. Nothing could have antagonized the citizenry more. The most affected are the womenfolk in homes where the male member’s appetite for liquor is insatiable. The women in those ruined homes can hardly afford bus travel. Free bus travel for them is poor consolation. Where the proceeds are siphoned off is well known.

Can the DMK Retrieve Itself? 

The moribund formation is in a state of obsolescence. The state has lost its confidence to resuscitate itself. Anti-Hindi agitation propelled the party to power in 1967. Has Tamil grown one wee bit since then? Bluff and bluster have fooled no medical aspirant on NEET. The students have fared far better in NEET exams as statistics on results reveal. 

In incontrovertible economic and growth statistics and in state GDP and GDP per capita information, who can say Tamil Nadu has secured her rightful place? What is her potential and what is her performance?

When DMK had immersed Tamil Nadu in this quagmire, Annamalai dropped a bombshell -List1- in mid – April. If this was Hiroshima, Nagasaki is in the offing in early July. When the DMK is fully exhausted, List 2, will be published. It is reported that on July 9, the Long March will commence.  My surmise is, that will be cataclysmic enough to put the DMK to slumber. It will mark the regeneration of Tamil Nadu and the citizens will say with Tagore:

                          “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high …

                           Into that heaven of freedom, My Father, let my country awake.”