Much Ado About Nothing!

This title of Shakespeare’s popular play will perfectly suit for the media in Tamil Nadu, both print and electronic – barring very few dailies and periodicals, for their zest in making a grave issue of a non-issue when it comes to the DMK and Kalaignar, and in turning a trivial issue into a great and sensational one when it relates to their much-fancied Jayalalitha. To them the round-the-clock toil all through the year of Kalaignar, for the sake of Tamil Nadu and its people, is a routine matter unworthy of reporting; but whenever Jayalalitha briefly wakes from her perennial slumber to sign a statement prepared by her half-backed aides, it is worth publishing in great deal.

The media’s latest foray into hyping an inconsequential act of Jayalalitha was her visit to New Delhi to participate in the Platinum Jubilee celebration of the Election Commission on January 25. The super-enthusiastic and subservient dailies, both English and Tamil willingly served Jayalalitha’s purposes of thrusting herself to limelight in national political arena and to boost the sagging morale of her naïve party cadre. She was in dire need of enthusing the ranks of her outfit after successive defeats in elections and by-elections right from the ADMK’s rout in the Lok Sabha polls in the year 2004. Hence, she herself started the hype-up game by issuing a statement as if she was obliging the personal invitation extended to her over phone by Chief Election Commissioner Thiru Navin Chawla. She made out as if it was a rare gesture bestowed only upon her by the CEC. Ever ready on their heels to prop up her, newspapers blew up stories of her imminent one-to-one meeting with AICC President and UPA Chairperson Tmt. Sonia Gandhi and consequent likelihood of political realignments in the state. It was reported that she had deputed her MPs V.Maitreyan and M.Thambidurai to do spadework for her meetings with many prominent political leaders in the capital besides Tmt. Sonia Gandhi. The distortions went to such an extent that it was reported that the CEC extended personal invitation to Jayalalitha only at the behest of the AICC President.

That the neutrality and dignity of the constitutional office of the CEC was dragged to this mean level of petty-politicising, the otherwise sober Election Commission was compelled to sought to correct the perception made out that it had selectively invited leaders of political parties (read, Jayalalitha) for the diamond jubilee celebration in New Delhi. “There was  a move in certain quarters to depict the Commission as close to some political parties and not to some others. Any such perception is absolutely baseless” said an EC source and detailed the process ahead of the celebrations. The President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, UPA Chairperson, NDA Convenor, Leader of the Opposition in the LS, all Chief Ministers and senior leaders and heads of major political parties were invited personally by CEC Thiru Navin Chawla. He received and sent off all important functionaries. Hence, there was no scope for leader of any political party that he or she had been singled out and not invited. On Jayalalitha attending the function and Chief Minister Kalaignar not being present, the source had said that Kalaignar was invited by the CEC. When the CM’s inability to attend the meeting was conveyed, the Commission requested that a representative be sent for the meeting. Higher Education Minister Dr. K.Ponmudy represented the Tamil Nadu government and the DMK Party at the meeting. “He was given the due respect that a Party of the DMK’s stature should be given. He was given a seat in the front row” the source added.

However, the so-much hyped “grand meeting after gap of 11 years between the two leading ladies of the country’s politics” ended in a fiasco on the D-day. When Tmt. Sonia Gandhi came across Jayalalitha under the shamiana for invitees before the start of the function, she had just passed the courteous words ‘Hello, how are you?’ and went away to occupy her seat far away from the woman from Tamil Nadu. The encounter was so brief while crossing past that, press photographers and TV camera crew in waiting could not get even a glimpse of the moment. The newspapers could only publish the photograph of Jayalalitha conversing with actor-politician of Andhra Pradesh Chiranjeevi, for their follow-up stories. Even during the function, Tmt. Sonia Gandhi was seated on the dais along with the President, Vice President, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speader Tmt. Meira Kumar, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Tmt. Sushma Swaraj and NDA convenor Thiru Sharad Yadav. Just like Jayalalitha and Opposition leaders from States like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Yerran Naidu (of TDP) et al. were invited and seated in the gathering.

Miserably failing in her attempts to get an audience with the AICC president, a disheartened and vexed Jayalalitha returned to Chennai on the same day in the evening cutting short her proposed stay in the capital for 2-3 days and thus avoiding the ignominy of being spurned away by leaders who matter.  Still the former actress put up a brave face to the media-persons and claimed that Sonia Gandhi and herself exchanged pleasantries and enquired about wellbeing of each other, but could not say anything more.

Even after their exaggerated stories on Jayalalitha’s Delhi visit fell flat, the never-say-die servitude media put up follow-up stories to buttress their pre-visit ones. All  sorts of nonsense were published, like the ‘jittery DMK leadership used all its means to scuttle the meeting between the two’ etc. They said the ADMK and Congress cadres in the state were exhilarated and enthused over Amma’s visit to Delhi and her ‘meeting’ with Tmt. Sonia Gandhi and the two parties coming together soon etc.,

The political culture in New Delhi is very different. They may shout at their rivals inside the House, but once they come to the Central Hall  they become friends. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh went to the house of ailing former Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee and greeted him on his birthday. BJP leader L.K.Advani went to the residences of the Prime Minister and Tmt. Sonia Gandhi to personally handover his biography book. On various occasions the top leaders of the Congress and BJP come together. But none in the capital even remotely suggest any thaw in the relationship between the two parties. But only the Jaya-fanatics in the media and her minions in the ADMK read so much into the casual and unplanned encounter. Look at the ridiculous observation of the ‘great’ political analyst Cho S. Ramaswamy (who otherwise extols the political culture in Delhi and bonhomie between leaders of different parties at personal levels) : “The cadres of the ADMK and the Congress would be glad to know that the two leaders are now in talking terms. The DMK will find it as a dangerous signal and may perhaps make overtures to the Congress in whatever manner they deem it fit” (TOI Jan. 26). The much-touted (by vested interests) ‘genius’ had surpassed, in sycophancy, an ADMK functionary, who in the same report, sounded caution that one could not read too much significance into the meeting, given to the rapport shared by Sonia Gandhi and Karunanidhi – a case of “more loyal than the king.”

Greatness cannot be thrust upon the undeserving. Even after repeated failed-campaigns to bolster Jayalalitha’s image, the media in Tamil Nadu do not seem to have learnt the lesson. Most unfortunate!

(Nota bene : Even while in the opposition, Jayalalitha will not travel with mortals in regular flights and took to a special flight to fly to Delhi and return. She is reported to have stayed in her own farm house, acquired last year in the hope that she would play a lead role in national politics after the Lok Sabha elections. Many retired politicians have built and reside in such farm houses in the suburbs of Delhi. Anyway, Jayalalitha also required a cosy residence there when she has to run away from Tamil Nadu, as envisaged by ever-dignified and soft-spoken Prof. K.Anbazhagan, Finance Minister, in the Assembly during the last session reacting to her reckless conduct of hurling baseless charges on the government and abruptly leaving the House without listening to the reply from the Treasury Benches). 

(07-02-10)