| STATES:
TAMIL NADU
Mother Fury
Karunanidhi and other DMK leaders may be out of
jail, but retribution and rehabilitation continue to define the statecraft
of Jayalalitha
By Arun Ram and L.R. Jagadheesan
The midnight knock
is a defining motif in the history of dictatorship. Remember those familiar
images from the extinct empires of paranoia: enemies vanishing into the
thickness of night, never to return. Thanks to Dr Puratchi Thalaivi
 J.
Jayalalitha, the raging empress of Tamil Nadu, that image has been Indianised,
rather Dravidianised. She has made it a pre-dawn knock.
In a crackdown at about 2 a.m. on June 30, former
Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi was dragged out of his bedroom
in his Oliver Road residence in Chennai. For the 78-year-old DMK leader,
it was a show torture in the glare of TV cameras-one frail, old man against
10 policemen, as swift and severe as Gestapos, before he was put in jail.
Others arrested included Union ministers Murasoli Maran, who also happens
to be the nephew of Karunanidhi, and T.R. Baalu, former municipal administration
minister Ko Si Mani and former chief secretary K.A. Nambiar. Maran, a
heart patient, who reached the spot on hearing about his uncle's arrest,
was apparently physically assaulted by the police.
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ALL JAYA'S MEN
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T.C. PONNAIYAN: The state finance and law
minister is virtually the second in command. Jayalalitha believes
he can, as law minister, bail her out of the 13 corruption cases
pending against her and help her contest the assembly elections
within the six months time frame.
N. HARI BHASKAR: In spite of being involved
in many corruption cases, this former chief secretary is back in
Poes Garden as key adviser on IAS postings.
W.I. DAWARAM: Now heading STF's operations
against Veerappan, the former DGP "enjoys Amma's trust".
According to a dejected police officer, he is the unofficial police
chief.
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He had to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit
of Apollo Hospital. Karunanidhi's son M.K. Stalin, prime accused in the
flyover scam, the excuse for the crackdown, surrendered a few hours later.
Twenty journalists were also taken into custody.
The George Fernandes-led NDA team that visited
Karunanidhi in the Central Prison recommended President's rule. The big
casualty was Governor Fathima Beevi, whom the Centre decided to recall
as she had failed to "objectively reflect the situation in Tamil
Nadu". That sent a strong warning to Jayalalitha, who ordered the
release of the two Union ministers on July 3 and that of the DMK chief
the next day.
Perhaps Amma did not want to antagonise the
Centre beyond a point. "She did not want a fight with the Centre.
There are a number of issues that require Delhi's help. In sorting out
issues like the sharing of the Krishna river water, we need Central assistance,"
said an AIADMK MP in Delhi. She sent her Law and Finance Minister Thiru
C. Ponnaiyan and Education Minister Thambidurai, armed with the police
version of the arrest, to the capital. Says AIADMK MP Malaiswamy of the
team's meeting with Union Law Minister Arun Jaitley: "He was not
only a lawyer. He proved to be a judge."
The release order, intimated to the media over
the phone by the pr division of the state secretariat, read: "Taking
into consideration the advanced age of Karunanidhi, the chief minister
of Tamil Nadu, J. Jayalalitha, has ordered his release on humanitarian
grounds. However, the cases against him will continue to be proceeded
in the court of law." Humanism, the joke went unnoticed.
Unlike his less fortunate counterparts in history,
Karunanidhi is back from darkness, however, to tell his story. "Mohammad
Ali (CB-CID DIG) pulled me down by my right hand and I got sprained in
the shoulder," he said at a press conference on July 4 after his
release. "I can't raise my hand... this is the hand I write with..."
He said his legs were swollen after the torture. "As such I cannot
stand for more than a couple of minutes. As they dragged me down the stairs,
my legs banged against each stair."
The case against Karunanidhi, Stalin and 12
others relates to alleged financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 12
crore in the construction of 10 flyovers in Chennai. What was on display
on June 30 was the Amma's irrepressible urge for retribution. Says an
AIADMK insider: "Madam is not as interested in the strength of the
charges filed as she is to see them behind bars for at least one day."
If things go wrong for Jayalalitha, it could
go terribly so. The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is yet to
decide on her eligibility as chief minister.
Some bureaucrats believe Amma is in a hurry,
for she is unsure about her own continuance as chief minister after six
months. Arresting Stalin and Karunanidhi was a political temptation she
could not resist.
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