Daijiworld News Network

POLL-WATCH

by Richie Lasrado from Chennai

Sunday, May 7, 2006

"Finally, the sound of silence," screams a newspaper headline on Sunday.

Nothing could have put more succinctly how the cacophonic but colourful campaign for the Tamil Nadu assembly elections went on and drew to a close on Saturday evening.

That was under the Election Commission's requirements, all right. But the TV war is still on. Pro-AIDMK, Jaya TV spares no effort to run down the DMK patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi. The supposedly contradictory stands taken by him on various issues - the most prominent being one on the introduction of the value-added tax (VAT) are graphically held out with a careful collection of clippings.

On the other hand, DMK's mouthpiece, Sun TV, gleefully brings out from the archives the midnight arrest of Karunanidhi in 2001, how the late Murasoli Maran, the then union commerce minister was manhandled, the burning down of a college bus with three girls inside by AIADMK workers in protest against a court ruling against J Jayalalithaa and tries to demonize the AIADMK rule.

It's raining promises

The heat and humidity around being simply unbearable, even the torrent of promises unleashed by different parties fails to cool down the restless electorate.

DMK promises rice at Rs 2 a kg, waiver of cooperative farm loans, free colour TVs to the poor, 300,000 government jobs, Rs 15,000 for girls' marriage - and so on and so forth.

The ruling AIADMK, desperate to get a consecutive third term in power, does not stay behind. It too has a long list of freebies to flaunt - 10 kg free rice, waiver of cooperative farm loans, free computer for students passing Plus Two, 500,000 new jobs, 4 gm of gold 'thali' for girls - phew!

The educated class do not seem to be impressed with all this. It may cut ice with the labour class, who could be swayed by such gimmicks, but most of them do not realize that the money for it all comes from the tax-payers' hard-earned money, and not from the politicians' private kitty, said Singaravelu, an entrepreneur friend from Chennai.

Media views

The media friends are a totally occupied lot. (Not being able to meet old friends like Jennifer Arul and Sanjay Pinto from NDTV because of their hectic schedule has left my agenda unfinished.)

An acquaintance in the media sarcastically comments that with all these promises behind them the major party candidates would shudder the thought of winning the elections than losing - simply because it would be pactically difficult to keep their word in view of the forbidding cost involved.

The promise of colour TVs has created a lot of jokes. Honestly, says a colleague, people would love to have colour TVs but would like to watch on TV real views of infrastructure development, welfare projects etc. rather than escapist Kollywood fare, with larger-than-life cutout-promoted matinee idols playing Robin Hood-like roles.

Barkha Dutt's show 'The state we're in - Tamil Nadu' on NDTV drew special attention. No doubt, the chief electoral commissioner, Naresh Gupta and the incorrigible media and movie figure Cho Ramaswamy were the star speakers on the panel. Cho's comment that 'That's the advantage of being notorious' brought out the spark of a wry sense of humour in him.

One couldn't help noticing that even in the audience there was subdued freedom of expression. There is a popular belief that any anti-regime comments could invite acid attacks from the supporters of a certain political party. No wonder then Barkha's show was not marked by very acerbic comments.

Who's the next CM?

Interestingly, political observers here do not see any wave in operation nor any anti-incumbency factor. The DMK-led alliance has done a good bit of homework. Former prime ministe V P Singh and Bollywood baddie-turned-politician Raj Babbar campaigned with Karunanidhi on Saturday. On the other hand former UP chief minister Mayavati too campaigned for her own Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) which is contesting independently and seemed to draw large crowds from the backward classes.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, the DMK president's son, has already served as the city mayor and an MLA. He has led the campaign from the front and is being seen as the heir apparent to the Dravidian throne. But a statement from Karunanidhi himself on Friday that he would serve the next five-year as CM in full has raised many eyebrows. Speaking to the media, Stalin said the people had already shown their love towards him by making him an MLA and the mayor. Right now, his aim was not personal power but a victory for the DMK, he added.

Interestingly, Karunanidhi also said on Sunday, if voted to power, he would not go on a witch-hunt and vindictive politics. He also made an 'appeal' to Jayalalithaa to step aside from politics and make way for good governance for the people of Tamil Nadu.

Where else would you come across such interesting statements in electoral politics?

More is yet to come. After the May 8 polls, that is.