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Journalism of Courage
There is little doubt about the true meaning of the tough-sounding resolution adopted by the Tamil Maanila Congress executive on Sunday. The TMC demand for consultation by the DMK government on all major policy decisions is calculated not to add to M. Karunanidhi8217;s current anxieties and apprehensions but, clearly, to reassure him. The party8217;s claim to something like an official status, even while staying in the Opposition, may have sounded quite different in another context.
More eloquent than the apparently disgruntled noises made, however, is the silence emanating from the executive on the extra-sensitive issue raised by some select extracts from the Jain Commission report. The leak that launched a thousand speculations was seen as a serious threat to an alliance sanctioned by a landmark electoral mandate. The fear was, of course, without a foundation in the past approach of the junior partner to such matters. But few will see in this only cynical realpolitik on the part of the regional Congress splinter. Far wider will be the public perception, particularly in Tamil Nadu, that the issue does not warrant destabilisation in the State any more than at the Centre.
But, so was the DMK among the pet aversions of 10, Janpath and the political camp around that address even at the time the alliance was struck. This, indeed, was the argument from within the camp against the alliance. The report can add nothing to reinforce the rejected argument.
The voter8217;s mandate has already been overturned by much of the rest of the Opposition in the state. Only the crassest opportunism and contempt for the people have made possible the coming together of the AIADMK of Jayalalitha, the Janata Party of her ex-tormentor Subramanian Swamy and the MDMK of militantly pro-Eelam V. Gopalasamy. The undoing of the DMK-TMC alliance will be a violation of the popular verdict. It will be a great pity if a document of dubious merit is allowed to cause such damage to democracy.
