Letter from Chennai: Jaya wins this round too

It is a comparatively dull Diwali in Tamil Nadu this year, with the common man having little spare cash for the oil, lights, lamps, crackers, new clothes and the festivities.

The farmers were hit by the failure of the 'Kuruwai' crop. Part of the standing 'Samba' crop was also lost because of the drought and the denial of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu by the Karnataka government.

The threat of withdrawal of free power is also looming. Government employees did not get the usual quantum of Diwali bonus and the expected Dearness Allowance. Some teachers and students apprehend heavy losses because of the merger of 67 government colleges in universities. Foodgrain prices have been increased by the government, as also bus fares.

Despite all this, Jayalalithaa seems to have won out.

The Supreme Court's order to Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu till November 6 and 10,000 cusecs thereafter, on the basis of the contempt petitions filed by Tamil Nadu fully vindicated her handling of the issue.

On top of this, the court has also ordered the early convening of the Cauvery River Authority headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and supported Jayalalithaa's call for interlinking the national rivers.

Her adversary, Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna is in the dog house because of his role in the whole controversy. Jaya's enemies within – the opposition parties in Tamil Nadu, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress party – have been silenced.

She has called the bluff of the government employees who dared to go on strike against her cutting down their DA and bonus.

After nine days of striking, they tamely returned to work on the eve of Diwali with their tails between their legs. They were told by her that she would invoke the dreaded Essential Services Maintenance Act, arrest and jail them and replace them with new staff.

She refused point blank to meet and talk to them unless they called off the strike and came to talk to the government without any pre-conditions.

She also flatly stated that the government just did not have the funds to mollycoddle them any longer, discriminating against the other 98 per cent working people of the state.

She challenged the political parties, who were fishing in troubled waters by supporting the government staff, and asked them in the assembly whether they were fighting for the people of the state as a whole or only for the staff.

On the last day of the last week-long session of the state assembly, on October 31, she got the controversial bill against religious conversions passed. She has chastened the minorities who are still crying hoarse against the bill. The Christian and some Muslim organisations have now decided to challenge the bill in court.

Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati, the head of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, has supported the issuance of the bill. (The Kanchi Shankaracharya had made some efforts to solve the Ayodhya issue earlier this year). He did this at a massive Hindu rally on the Marina beach on Thursday.

More support to the bill came from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other Sangh Parivar organisations.

Yesterday, Federal Law Minister and former BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy said in Chennai that other states of the country should emulate the TN government. The discussion on the bill in the assembly bared the open conflict on the issue between the BJP and the DMK, which is part of the NDA.

The opposition parties, including the DMK realise that they have missed the bus once again, so far as cornering Jayalalithaa is concerned. They just could not channelise public feeling against her.

There was, however, a faint threat of the emergence of a popular leader, in the mould of MGR emerging, in the form of superstar Rajnikant. Last Wednesday, The Hindu carried his interview in which he seemed to be hijacking the Cauvery issue as a future political launching pad.

Rajnikant, had gone on a token fast a few days ago, pressing for the release of Cauvery waters to TN by Karnataka and promised Rs10 million for a long term solution to the problem, the linking of national rivers.

In the interview, he said that he intended to start a "people's movement" for interlinking Himalayan and Peninsular rivers. He said he would meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Vajpayee, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and the chief ministers of the four southern states in this regard.

He believed that the project would not cost more than Rs100,000 million. The project would be completed in 10 to 12 years. "Money is not a problem"!

He said he was in contact with Nara Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh, S.M. Krishna of Karnataka and former prime ministers H.D. Deve Gowda and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Yesterday, Federal Home Minister L.K. Advani supported the proposal after the Supreme Court asked the government to take a look at it. A few weeks ago Chandrababu Naidu had called for the launching of such a project.

Asked by the interviewer whether he intended to enter politics, Rajnikant said that he would not rule out anything.

Pattali Makkal Katchi's Dr S. Ramadoss was the first Tamil leader to react to Rajni's proposal. He brushed it aside by saying that this state could not wait a decade for a solution of the Cauvery water problem.

On the other hand the Dalit leader, Dr Krishnaswamy of the Puthiya Tamizhagam, supported Rajni and offered Dalit support for the execution of the project.

Jayalalithaa senses the looming political threat. Tamil Nadu's Minister for Public Works O. Panneerselvam, who was selected by Jayalalithaa to stand in for her when she had been disqualified from elections, yesterday issued a strong statement against Rajnikant.

"The grandiose announcement made by Thiru Rajnikant of leading a people's movement for the inter-linking of rivers, assuming a holier than thou mantle of an apolitical visionary who sees far beyond the range of myopic politicians, gives the impression that the concept of rivers being declared a national wealth and the idea of inter-linking of rivers has emanated from Thiru Rajnikant's mind.

"No doubt, after the recently much publicised mystic trip to the Himalayas, given his limited exposure to the world beyond the wide-angle camera, he may perhaps be excused for being ignorant.

"Our beloved leader Dr Puraitchi Thalaivi (Supreme Leader) Amma has been repeatedly moving the Government of India to nationalise all inter-state rivers and to allocate sufficient funds.

"Sections of the media like The Hindu would do well to remember that on a sensitive and important issue like the inter-state water issue, where our leader is taking all steps to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu, it would be better to avoid such jejune interviews".