The Maanga

Isn’t terrorism such an urban plank? Shouldn’t the party try and go after diversifying its vote base, and concentrate on free power or fertilizer or something?

The MDMK was part of the DMK lead DPA or the Democratic Progressive Alliance for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. With the front having swept that poll, the party won four seats. However, in the subsequent Assembly Elections for Tamil Nadu in 2006, the MDMK aligned itself with the AIADMK and consequently was out of the DPA. The coalition at the center though is called UPA or United Progressive Alliance. In the last three years, the MDMK’s four MPs haven’t raised any significant issue and were largely ignored. The distinction between Democracy and Unity was irrelevant. Now, with numbers being all important, that scenario has changed.

Two of the DPA’s constituents have walked out: PMK and MDMK.

What the MDMK does can be controlled by the opposition BJP if it so desires — while the PMK with a Cabinet Minister is more likely to vote itself in. The UPA government’s survival, if and when that happens, will only serve to indicate the opposition’s prepardness for elections. Consequently, one could argue, the risk-reward ratio is stacked more against the BJP than the Indian National Congress. However, one will not.

The question a Tamil is tempted to ask but will not is: if D Raja, the spokesperson of a political party that has 10 members in the house gets to address the national media as much as he does, shouldn’t the MDMK be given at least 40% of that time?

Update: Turns out, the BJP agrees with me.

By definition, growing up is confused with having grown up. And Indian business sentiment is possibly the single greatest example[1]. Sevanti Ninan rightly castigates the media at the wrong place. Somehow, one always expects something worthwhile on a Sunday Magazine. Pointing how stupid the stupids are is best left to The Maanga. One thinks.

In an NDTV discussion late last week, predictably, the spokespersons of the CPI(M) and the Indian National Congress were restating their stated positions forcefully. Nilotpal Basu, cleverly started his statement by declaring that the day they were discussing was in fact the thirty third anniversary of the declaration of emergency by Mrs Indira Gandhi. And reminded everyone how the nation should remember what the price of overriding Democracy is. Jayanthi Natrajan, cleverer still, completely side-stepped that allusion and restated her party’s stated position in present tense. After fifteen minutes, Shekar Gupta, the journalist on the panel, in his closing remark, reminded Mr Basu that his party was the only one that vociferously supported Mrs Gandhi’s promulgation of Emergency at that time. NDTV moved on to another program.

In a CNN-IBN program called Devil’s Advocate, where the host is given a license to be probing and the permit is taken quite seriously, Finance Minister P Chidambaram was interviewed. During the interview, when the Finance Minister was answering a specific question, the host tried to ask another question assuming the answer that was just being given out. The interviewee told the interviewer, “listen to me” and went on to explain monetary policy and variables.

Barkha Dutt, in yet another discussion, had Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah from Kashmir say something about how Kashmir’s people will decide their own levels of tolerance. To a Rajeev Pratap Rudy and a host in Delhi who thought Democracy does not work as rule by majority in one context or the other. Respectively.

[1] — See what I did there?