Please don't read this if you are not acquainted with the politics of Tamilnadu.
The party that rules the state of Tamilnadu is the AIADMK (Don't bother about the expansion of this rather long abbreviation. The expanded name has no significance either in terms of meaning or in terms of relevance. The party has been. going through an identity and survival crisis for the past 5 or 6 months and has recently been asked by the Election Commission of India to choose a new name and symbol till the Commission decides which of the two factions of the party is authentic!)
A few months back, posters were put up in the party office at Lloyds Road, Chennai, hailing Mrs. V.K.Sasikala who was set to become the General Secretary of the party, a post that became vacant on 6th December, 2016, the day the holder of that office Miss J.Jayalalitha was (officially) pronounced dead by the Apollo Hospital where she was lying in an uncertain condition for 75 days, from 22nd September, 2016, the day she was admitted and diagnosed with fever and dehydration.
A party worker who was furious with the very idea of Mrs. Sasikala, a close friend and aide of Miss Jayalalitha for the past 30 years and a person widely perceived to be highly corrupt, becoming the General Secretary of the party, a post which is akin to that of a ringmaster in a circus, tore up the posters.
Some party leaders who watched this 'outrage' rushed to the offender. One of them, a senior minister, beat him up. This incident was flashed in many TV channels. Of course, the police took no cognisance of the offence committed by the minister.
Eventually Mrs Sasikala became the General Secretary of the party, having been unanimously elected by all the members of the General Council of the party. The person who, at that time, was holding the post of the Chief Minister of the state, hailed her as the only person who could save the party and lead it. He also fell at her feet, in keeping with the 'culture' of the party. It is another matter that he revolted a couple of days after he was asked to quit his post in favor of the person described by him as the only capable leader of the party. Anyway, this post is not about this rebel!
Soon after getting ensconced in the position of the General Secretary of the party, Mrs. Sasikala decided that she should be the Chief Minister too. It was when the loyalist became the rebel. Mrs. Sasikala was jailed by a Supreme Court judgement that was fortuitously delivered a few days after she got herself elected as the leader of the party's legislators including the loyalist who subsequently became a rebel. By a quirk of fate, the minister who beat up the party worker, became the Chief Minister! I don't have to tell his name. If you don't know his name, please read the first sentence of this post again!
Today (on 26th April 2017), supporters of the Chief Minister removed the banners of Mrs. Sasikala that have been in display at the premises for the past 3 or 4 months!
Yesterday, the man beat up a party worker for removing a poster carrying he image of Mrs. Sasikala.
Today, the same man, through his men, is engaged in removing the banners carrying the image of Mrs. Sasikala.
I wonder what this man will do tomorrow!
Tailpiece: Netru, Indru, NaaLai (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) was the title of a film in which the founder of the party, the late MGR, had acted (as the hero, of course!)
The party that rules the state of Tamilnadu is the AIADMK (Don't bother about the expansion of this rather long abbreviation. The expanded name has no significance either in terms of meaning or in terms of relevance. The party has been. going through an identity and survival crisis for the past 5 or 6 months and has recently been asked by the Election Commission of India to choose a new name and symbol till the Commission decides which of the two factions of the party is authentic!)
A few months back, posters were put up in the party office at Lloyds Road, Chennai, hailing Mrs. V.K.Sasikala who was set to become the General Secretary of the party, a post that became vacant on 6th December, 2016, the day the holder of that office Miss J.Jayalalitha was (officially) pronounced dead by the Apollo Hospital where she was lying in an uncertain condition for 75 days, from 22nd September, 2016, the day she was admitted and diagnosed with fever and dehydration.
A party worker who was furious with the very idea of Mrs. Sasikala, a close friend and aide of Miss Jayalalitha for the past 30 years and a person widely perceived to be highly corrupt, becoming the General Secretary of the party, a post which is akin to that of a ringmaster in a circus, tore up the posters.
Some party leaders who watched this 'outrage' rushed to the offender. One of them, a senior minister, beat him up. This incident was flashed in many TV channels. Of course, the police took no cognisance of the offence committed by the minister.
Eventually Mrs Sasikala became the General Secretary of the party, having been unanimously elected by all the members of the General Council of the party. The person who, at that time, was holding the post of the Chief Minister of the state, hailed her as the only person who could save the party and lead it. He also fell at her feet, in keeping with the 'culture' of the party. It is another matter that he revolted a couple of days after he was asked to quit his post in favor of the person described by him as the only capable leader of the party. Anyway, this post is not about this rebel!
Soon after getting ensconced in the position of the General Secretary of the party, Mrs. Sasikala decided that she should be the Chief Minister too. It was when the loyalist became the rebel. Mrs. Sasikala was jailed by a Supreme Court judgement that was fortuitously delivered a few days after she got herself elected as the leader of the party's legislators including the loyalist who subsequently became a rebel. By a quirk of fate, the minister who beat up the party worker, became the Chief Minister! I don't have to tell his name. If you don't know his name, please read the first sentence of this post again!
Today (on 26th April 2017), supporters of the Chief Minister removed the banners of Mrs. Sasikala that have been in display at the premises for the past 3 or 4 months!
Yesterday, the man beat up a party worker for removing a poster carrying he image of Mrs. Sasikala.
Today, the same man, through his men, is engaged in removing the banners carrying the image of Mrs. Sasikala.
I wonder what this man will do tomorrow!
Tailpiece: Netru, Indru, NaaLai (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) was the title of a film in which the founder of the party, the late MGR, had acted (as the hero, of course!)
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