Coordinating Chennai

It8217;s a bit like watching reruns of your favourite mythological. An official looking vehicle carrying George Fernandes, the Prime Minister8217;s plenipotentiary-at-large and convenor of the Union government8217;s coordination committee, drives up to the Poes Gardens residence of AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha Jayaram. Like Alibaba8217;s Cave, the imposing gates to the mansion open for a brief moment to accommodate the visitation and then shut again. Only to open a short while later to disgorge a considerably less jaunty Fernandes. But it testifies to his indubitable ability to come up with the right soundbites even when bitten, that Fernandes somehow conspires to present every nebulous encounter of this kind as a success story.

So what does he say? He cleverly underplays the significance of the visit by adopting a studied casual manner he was only passing through on his way to Lakshadweep and he thought he would call on Jayalalitha, he says. He also practically demolishes the sanctity of the joint statement thatemerged from the coordination committee confabulations of February 2. Oh that? That was just a statement of intent, so it8217;s not important that Jayalalitha actually puts her signature of assent on it. Then he seeks to dilute Jayalalitha8217;s supposed dissent: a mere expression of reservation should not be read as confrontation, he says smoothly. This is dissimulation of a very high order. If all consensual positions emerging out of coordination committee meetings are to be rendered nonsensical, why must it exist in the first place?

Wouldn8217;t it be better to disband the body once and for all, if it is meant to serve merely as a decorative piece for the democratic aspirations of the ruling coalition? The truth is that the old contradictions that beset the Vajpayee government from the moment of its birth continue to dog it through its uneasy existence. If Jayalalitha was the problem then, she alas continues to be a problem now.

To be fair to Jayalalitha, she has been transparent about her disquiet over aspecific clause in the coordination committee joint statement that expressly forbid alliance partners to publicly voice their opposition or dissent on any policy or action of the government. Speaking in Chennai soon after this was made public, Jayalalitha pointedly observed that allies could not keep silent when they disagreed on the Union government8217;s policies and decisions. Jayalalitha values her freedom of expression precisely because she realises that it is one of the most potent weapons she has in her cat-and-mouse game with Delhi. The moment she signs away her right to growl in Chennai, she becomes little more than a paper pussycat. So she continues to roar and how. Just before Fernandes landed at her doorstep, she had told the world that she was not happy with the attitude of the BJP and its allies and would take an 8220;appropriate decision at the appropriate time8221;. A deliciously ambiguous stand this, full of political possibilities. The AIADMK supr-emo clearly has no lasting commitment to the rulingcoalition. She regards it much like a traveller would, the railway waiting room.