High on high heels

Dravida Politics continues to run true to film script. Just when audience participation seemed to be flagging, the nation is confronted w...

Dravida Politics continues to run true to film script. Just when audience participation seemed to be flagging, the nation is confronted with an auditor-on-hospital-bed, with damaged eye and bandaged limbs. In a whisper, the auditor, R. Rajasekaran, relates an incredible tale to assembled journalists.

First, he says, he was summoned to Poes Garden by Madam Jayalalitha. Having waited for rahu kalam to pass, he sets out for his destination at an auspicious hour. His fate there was, alas, far from auspicious. Having gained admittance into the precincts of Jayalalitha8217;s residence, he subsequently found himself locked into a room. Jayalalitha, Sasikala and the latter8217;s nephew, Mahadevan, then proceed to attack him with high heels and a club. Badly hurt, he is made to sign some papers and a promissory note for Rs 50 lakh. Later, Mahadevan even brandished a revolver and threatened dire consequences if Rajasekaran dared spill the beans on this brief and eventful encounter.

Jayalalitha, the picture ofinjured innocence, immediately and vehemently denied that such an incident had ever taken place. She pointed an accusing finger at her arch-enemies, the DMK, accusing it of having cooked up yet another diabolic plot to frame her and destroy her politically. It is ridiculous to accuse her of so low a crime, she said, when she presides over the destiny of an important political party with one crore members. 8220;I8217;m sufficiently cultured not to indulge in such acts,8221; she said. Meanwhile, in Delhi, her party faithful staged a walkout in Parliament protesting the maligning of their leader. Jayalalitha and her party colleagues have a point. As the leader of an important political party, a party which holds the fate of the Union government in its grasp, it is vital that her name be cleared. The only way this can be done is to get to the bottom of this sordid episode and establish immediately and conclusively whether the lady did, indeed, in a fit of rage allow her high heels to get the better of her.

In otherwords, the matter needs to be investigated thoroughly and immediately and Jayalalitha must cooperate fully with such an inquiry. It should be relatively easy to establish the veracity of the auditor8217;s story by piecing together circumstantial evidence in a fair and non-partisan manner.

Tamil Nadu politics is full of instances of political excesses and neither of the two main Dravida parties emerges with spotless reputation.

Jayalalitha has, quite rightly, reminded people of the fake photograph that sought to link her with Rajiv Gandhi8217;s assassins which her political enemies had attempted to circulate in order to embarrass her. At the same time, her own high-handedness and temperamental ways are so well-known that many would find Rajasekaran8217;s account quite plausible. After all, Jayalalitha is known to have once flung her footwear at one of her own ministers and the 46 cases of corruption that she now faces testify to a brand of political activity that has little respect for the rules of the game.