The Amma in the title refers not to my mother, though it could, cos Mom's rock too. But, no, it refers to my favourite, most entertaining, most inspirational, and most many-other-adjectives-which-I-cant-think-of-right-now, politican - Ms.J.Jayalalitha. (Is there an extra 'a' at the end ? I dunno, think there is).
Why am I writing this now? Cos India winning the World Cup is an old story. Plus, we are having a rare moment in history where news channels are having nothing more significant to report than some distinct nincompoop in Pakistan calling random people and their comments "stupid" . You dont know who that is ? I'll give you a clue, his first name is Shahid and last name Afridi. Nothing more, you find out who it is now ! (You may accuse me of hypocrisy, that Shahid Afridi post is still fresh in my mind, but ill take that) What this means is, elections in Tamil Nadu which are a week away are hogging the limelight. And my hero(ine) is omnipresent.
A neutral person (a neutral person is defined as one who supports DMK during one election and ADMK during the next, and by this definition, PMK is assigned the relative measurement standard and is 0 on the Political Support Scale (PSS), parties with DMK are negative on the scale while ADMK allies are positive) would ask me why I feel Amma rocks. I will explain my stand, just as I will also tell why I think she is going to win the elections.
Amma is a two time chief minister who has done everything an average Indian politician would dream to do. She made money, snubbed her biig ally partners and got away with it (DMK needs a lesson or two on that from Amma), and even went on to arrest her primary adversary. Why, even the money-garlanded Mayawati hasn't been able to shut Mulayam and Amar behind bars. As opposed to the Live and let live concept everywhere else in the country, amma and her foe, thatha, are strong advocates of "Kill and let Kill". A lot of bloodshed on the way, but who cares? This is Rajneeti aka Arasiyal.
Tamizhnatin Che Guevara (as his supporters love to call him) aka V.Gopalsamy (as his parents had once named him) aka Vaiko (now where did that come from???) disagrees with me. To understand his vociferous disapproval of my sycophancy towards Amma, we first need to understand the background of his party. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam achieved national notoriety when newsreaders across the country - from Vikram Chandra to Rahul Shivshankar, from Sagarika Ghosh to Rahul Singh - realised that in their bid to bring the most exclusive news in the shortest time ,they had overlooked one horrific fact that was staring right at their faces - they could not pronounce Marumalarchi. Cant blame them, even the average sethu payyan from Sowcarpet cant pronounce Marumalarichi and often think that it is Magarmachi which is something remotely connected to a crocodile and hence, Marumalarchi DMK must be some Crocodile park started by DMK. Sigh! You will notice how none of the newsreaders who will so comfortably say Bharatiya Janata party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, etc, will never dare expanding the names of Tamil parties. Cos they know that they will have to contend with pronouncing Ma-ru-ma-lar-chi dra-vi-da mun-ne-tra ka-zha-gam which is probably longer than the length of their newspiece on the MDMK.
Coming back to MDMK, it is a wannabe PMK. Only, they always manage to jump to the wrong side always, consistently, time and again. They are unassigned on the PSS. Mainly because no one understands whose side they are on. But one must sympathise with MDMK too. Most parties have one single issue to run their lives with and to become biig. It was Ram Mandir for BJP, Telangana for TRS, but poor MDMK chose LTTE. LTTE left the scene abruptly leaving MDMK in soup. So yeah, MDMK is out of the question.
One person I am happy will support me big time is dear Vijayakanth. Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam is syllabically shorter and hence easier to pronounce than MDMK and also shares a special symmetry with the MDMK. However, the symmetry is just in nomenclature while idealogically the two parties are diametrically opposite to each other (I dont know what their idealogy is, dont ask me). DMDK is at +0.00000001 in the PSS which makes them ADMK allies (for the moment).
In the interest of the length of this post (and the staunchness of my support to Amma), I will skip the analysis of the DMK and its allies. I will get back to singing praises of Amma. I will now tell you why Amma is my favourite, and why I think she is better off as far as the elections are concerned.
First primary reason - Corruption-wise, Amma may be another Karunanidhi, but at least she doesn't have a family !!! Yes, the money will all go, but while she is there, she will ensure that no one else beats her at it !
Second important reason - If Nature and God actually bestow Amma with a long life as her innumerable supporters keep praying, she still has time to make use of it. In simpler words, she does not stand the risk of dropping dead the next second. And that is a relatively reassuring scenario. ;)
Third reason - She has undisputed authority at the top. If she is the chief minister, the state is totally in her control. Dear thatha cannot claim that. But I understand that he has his difficulties. He has to keep all sections of his diverse family happy together - often at the compromise of total power.
These three reasons, though not exhaustive will be the most important factors in the victory of the ADMK-alliance. Forget whatever Dorab Supariwalla and Shekar Gupta and Vir Sanghvi say. So that basically sums it up. Hope I have managed to convince you to vote for Amma !
Having said that, the Government, whether DMK or ADMK, has always looked to give the basic amenities required for prosperity. We have some urban areas developing really quick. We have great roads, highways and railways.We have farmers who aren't exactly prospering like the ones in Punjab, but are at least able to lead a respectable livelihood. Education, though leaves a lot to be desired, is excellent at the moment in the fact that it is accessible to all sections of the society and across the state. I know there is a lot of good things they can do, but collectively, the state is progressing, and progressing fast. In this, I respect Tamil leaders.
They may be corrupt yes, but relatively, they are better than others in the country. And ultimately, they become rich, yes, but a lot of their money goes into paying voters which ensures that money does trickle down to the people. It may be illegal, but it is economically very acceptable. While the Central Government battles wastage of food grains, the move of both contenders to distribute rice free of cost deserves applause. Yes, there are many people who are against giving freebies, but then hunger is the purest feeling and no one ever acts hunger. In such a case, giving rice to those who need it deserves appreciation.
Ultimately, one thing is, whether it is DMK or ADMK, they have always fought amongst themselves, but the people of TN have always been beneficiaries. Their approach may be dictatorial, but the average Tamilian who is well educated knows that the Government can do only so much to improve our lives and that our future lies truly in our hands. While the Government can effect change to the system, it is we, the people, who have to make the change !
