HVK Archives: Amma's Limited options
Amma's Limited options - Mid-Day
Shenoy
()
April 25, 1998
Title: Amma's Limited options
Author: Shenoy
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: April 25, 1998
Many years ago I saw a Bengali film one of Satyajit Ray's
as I recall - that beautifully brought out the point
that there everywhere. A god-man solemnly intoned: ehold!
By my power the sun shall now rise.
When nature took its course, there were enough asses
willing to swallow this nonsense. You may laugh at such
credulity, but at times I confess we in the media are no
less ready to be taken in.
"Dismiss Buta Singh!" came the missive from Chennai
almost as soon as the apex court found him worthy of
prosecution in the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bribery case.
When the communications minister was indeed sacked, the
media decided Jayalalitha, not Atal Behari Vajpayee, was
setting the agenda.
Nobody to stop and think. Knowing Atal Behari Vajpayee's
long cherished, often proclaimed views on corruption, would
he really have kept Buta Singh in his ministry? But
Jayalalitha seized the credit by stating the obvious.
Why is she so desperate to create a confrontationist
atmosphere with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?
For obvious reasons I doubt she has suddenly blossomed
into a crusader against corruption!
Why, then, is she pushing the prime minister, asking him to
sack Buta Singh one day and snarling at Ramakrishna Hegde
and Ram Jethmalani the next?
These are, I believe, essentially diversionary tactics.
After all, Jethmalani and Hegde are old acquaintances.
The urban development minister was once Jayalalitha's
lawyer and Hegde is an old friend of her mother Sandhya
(an artist in the old Mysore State).
So her attack on them isn't to be taken too seriously.
Such sniping is merely a reminder that she has the
potential to do far worse if the BJP doesn't accede to her
demands. And it is these Jayalalitha's "hidden agenda" if
you will - that are causing so much friction.
First and foremost, the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) boss wants the dismissal of the
Karunanidhi ministry. Next, she wants total freedom for
her own candidates in various important central officers.
Both these stem from the same reason - nervousness.
Press reports to the contrary, the central government
isn't really involved in any of the court cases against
Jayalalitha. here were two Central Bureau of
Investigations (CBI) probes at one time, both given the go-
by.
This, for the record, wasn't done by the BJP, but by the
United Front when Joginder Singh was the CBI director.
The prosecutions that really worry the lady are the work of
the Tamil Nadu government. Two Chennai High Court
decisions have
already gone against her. she might be in a lot of trouble
if the Supreme Court, to whom she had appealed, upholds
those verdicts.
But the BJP has proclaimed its antipathy to abusing Article
356. It won recommended sacking Karunanidhi without
excellent causes. Jayalalitha's legal problems scarcely
amount to a breakdown of the constitutional machinery.
This frustrates the AIDADMK boss. To Make matters worse
the second demand putting chosen candidates in key offices
is running into opposition. She wanted control of the
finance ministry (partly to save her friend Sasikala,
partly to entangle Moopanar and Chidambaram in the Indian
Bank case). She wanted to appoint the CBI director. She
wanted trusted aides as the law officers.
She got part of her demand as far the finance ministry
was concerned, with the department of revenue going to an
AIADMK man. But she hasn got her way with the rest. Her
candidate for CBI directorship, she was told, wasn senior
enough. Her nominee for the office of solicitor general
proved a lady who had staunchly defended the Emergency. And
so on..
The opposition loudly proclaims that mma is calling the
shots. But Jayalalitha her self believes that she is being
marginalised. Or if that is too strong a statement, that
she is being subtly shown the limits of her bargaining
power.
Come to that , where does the AIADMK boss go if she
chooses to snap links with the BJP? She has the allegiance
of 27 Lok Sabha members, about a tenth of those who
voted in favour of the Vajpayee ministry. So she can pull
down the ministry. But can she put up another in its place?
Let me put it this way: is the Congress in a position to
take on Jayalalitha's troubles? After all, the Congress
is already saddled with a lady with more than her fair
share of legal problems. Even Amma's problems pale in
comparison to Bofors and
the Quattrocchi connection.
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