To reach out to Cong, Jaya talks ‘secular’, slams BJP

By describing herself as the upholder of a ‘‘secular’’ Constitution, and going by the old adage that there are no permanent friends nor foes in politics, she is not only trying to distance herself from the BJP but also attempting to build bridges with the Congress and regional parties that call themselves a third front.

Her statement, however, is silent on the takeover of the Kanchi mutt, which seemed to be on the cards 24 hours ago. As reported by The Sunday Express, she is learnt to have sent to the Tamil Nadu Governor the draft of an ordinance along with the statement of her intent to take over the mutt.

This was viewed as a trial balloon to assess the Governor’s reaction because an ordinance cannot be sanctified without his signature.

Governor S S Barnala—he is considered close to the DMK ever since he refused to give a report to the Chandra Shekhar government making a case for the dismissal of the Karunandhi ministry—is believed to have forwarded the note containing Jayalalithaa’s intentions to Delhi to try and ascertain the view of the Central government.

It is calculated to put the Central government on the spot and prevent any warming up between the two to take place. Officially, however, the Government denies that any missive has come from the Tamil Nadu governor.

According to a senior Minister in the UPA government, the Home Ministry is saying neither ‘‘yes’’ nor ‘‘no’’, for the simple rason that it is not an ordinance, backed by a Cabinet decision, but a mere declaration of intent, which its leaders say is neither here nor there. That is the legal part of it.

Politically too, the Congress has steered clear, not wanting to get caught in the firing line of the Shankaracharya case-cum-controversy. The PM has said on more than one occasion that due respect should be shown to the institution and the law must take its course, thereby antagonising neither the Hindus nor the Muslims.

Ever since the AIADMK was trounced in the Lok Sabha elections last year, Jayalalithaa has tried to recover lost ground and position herself for the coming electoral battle one year down the line. Within days of her defeat, she moved with alacrity and reinstated dismissed state government employees and rolled back other decisions which had proved to be unpopular.

Whatever be the merits of the cases against Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi or junior pontiff Vijendra Saraswathi who’s currently in jail, her strategy appears to be to utilise the issue as a means to gather the non-Brahmin votes behind her. She is also trying to woo the PMK and the MDMK to her side and has reached out to a section of the DMK.

She is also reaching out to a section inside the Congress. There are leaders in the party like G K Vasan who feel marginalised and several others feel that the DMK leaders are given importance by the Congress high command while they are ignored.

The moot question, however, is whether Jayalalithaa is making headway with the Dravidian sentiment. Initially, she seemed to have struck a chord with people following her government’s action against the Shankaracharya. But of late, there’s a feeling that she is going for an overkill.

The way the junior pontiff was arrested within hours of the senior Shankaracharya being released on bail did not go down well. And now the BJP is raising questions about her motives, whether the charges against the Shankaracharyas were trumped up only to take over the mutt.

The mutt, say observers, has almost been taken over with its various accounts already frozen and this has figured prominently in the Tamil papers in the last few days.

Unless the Congress becomes desperate, there is little chance of its turning to Jayalalithaa again. It has an alliance going with the DMK. As things stand, the DMK-led secular front is likely to win in the 2006 polls. Apart from being highly unpredictable, Jayalalithaa had relentlessly attacked Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins.

But Jaya’s softened stance could help the Congress keep the DMK in check, particularly now that the regional leaders in the UPA are trying to create a front within a front to increase their clout.

While a desperate Jayalalithaa decides her next moves, it is clear that she is trying her utmost to regain her lost base before 2006.