Bridge from South

The DMK-BJP spat over Sethusamudram now looks like having the potential of becoming a really ugly political stand-off. Of course, blame rests on Sangh Parivar worthies hyperventilating with glee at being able to bring Ram back in political discourse again. But blame rests with Karunanidhi, too. Saying this is wholly consistent with defending the DMK leader8217;s right to hold any opinion on religion/mythology and his right to express those opinions. But as this veteran politician knows better than most, in politics it is not what you say but how you say it that also matters. Sometimes, the latter matters more. Karunanidhi may have calculated that his immediate political constituency will take well to his frequent quickie dissertations on mythology and religion. Given the DMK8217;s founding political principles, given the difference between the way a typically 8216;religious8217; issue plays out in the North and the South, and given the BJP8217;s relatively weak stature in the South, the Tamil Nadhu CM8217;s political strategy may have made sense.

Although even then the question of good taste may have come up. But Karunanidhi seems to have miscalculated that the Sethusamudram affair had become national issue before his interventions. He was being heard around the country, not just in the state. As a key partner in the UPA, the DMK should have had more political savvy, to say the least.

It is, however, necessary for the BJP to step back as well. Its just-concluded national executive showed it intends to use Sethusamudram as a major electoral issue. But here, too, how the BJP says it will make the difference. There are leaders in the party who are capable of breaching the line between aggressive political campaign and inflammatory rhetoric. There are many more in Sangh Parivar outfits for whom the line doesn8217;t exist. If responsibility is not stressed by senior leaders like L.K. Advani, the party may find itself embroiled in a political row so nasty as to preclude net electoral gain.

The Congress, of course, is in an unenviable position. It is ruing giving the BJP a talking point.

It is anything but happy at Karunanidhi8217;s history lessons. And as a party of the Central government, it has the most stake in hoping that sense and order prevails in Tamil Nadu. The Congress must remind the DMK how Sethu politics is playing out in Delhi.