Commentary/Rajiv Shukla
If Karunanidhi continues his vengeful attitude, Jayalalitha could well stage a comeback
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi appears to be making some
tactical blunders while dealing with his predecessor, Jayalalitha Jayaram.
Karunanidhi would do well to turn back a few pages of the India's
political history. He can learn a lot from similar mistakes committed by
the Janata government while dealing with Indira Gandhi. Both Morarji
Desai and Charan Singh were guilty of adopting a flawed strategy
while on a vendetta trail against the deposed Congress
prime minister.
It was the Janata leaders's lack of foresight that helped Indira
Gandhi resuscitate her political career. Ultimately,
it was two particular decisions of the Janata government which spelt its doom. One was
the move to jail Indira Gandhi; and the other, to disqualify
her from Lok Sabha membership.
This blatant show of vindictiveness turned public opinion against
the Janata regime and earned Indira Gandhi popular sympathy. The
dictator who topped the hate-list of most Indians in March 1977,
became a darling of the masses as the leader of Opposition.
She drew massive crowds wherever she went, and by the end of 1978
it was clear that the people had forgiven her past mistakes.
The result: Indira Gandhi swept to power with a thumping majority
in 1979. Not only did she herself win both the seats she contested,
but her son Sanjay Gandhi -- considered to be the villain of the Emergency
-- staged a comeback to the Lok Sabha in style.
Today, in Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi is behaving just like Morarji
Desai and Charan Singh did. He probably
does not understand the psyche of the Indian masses, who are not
only sentimental but also believe in the principle of forgiveness.
When the Tamilians handed Jayalalitha a humiliating
defeat in the polls, they punished her for her blunders and arrogance.
After that, Karunanidhi should have played the part of a gracious
victor. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime should have confiscated Jayalalitha's ill-amassed
wealth; but it should not hound her the way it is doing now.
On this count, P Chidambaram did the right thing. He confined
his attack on Jayalalitha to the financial front. He succeeded
in portraying her as a 'billionaire lady'. He disclosed details of wealth recovered from the former
chief minister's residence. And the list said it all: thousands of sarees, hundreds of slippers, a huge haul
of jewellery...
But while Chidambaram stopped at that, Karunanidhi launched a
hate campaign against Jayalalitha. He has had her jailed,
and has tried every trick in the book to harass her politically
and personally.
And now, he has surely overstepped the line by engineering the
publishing of photographs allegedly showing two of Rajiv Gandhi's
assassins with Jayalalitha. This move to embarrass her has fallen flat
with Jayalalitha proving that 'Dhanu' and 'Sivarasan'
were actually two lawyers from Hosur district.
Jayalalitha has clearly won this round. Karunanidhi would be well advised to tread with more caution.
These days, Jayalalitha is behaving like Indira Gandhi did in 1978.
She has taken full responsibility for her previous mistakes, apologised
to the people, and started afresh.
If Karunanidhi continues his vengeful attitude and Jayalalitha
plays her cards right, she could well stage a comeback -- sooner rather than later.
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