Between you & me

CHENNAI

THIS COLUMN shares wholeheartedly the unanimous sense of outrage, horror and indignation expressed by most of the country at the roughing up and brutalisation of the former Chief Minister and DMK president when he was arrested during the early hours of the morning. The media is covering the event on an unprecedented scale, and I do not wish to repeat what readers know already. But a few points are worth remembering. The question is not at all one of Mr. Karunanidhi's guilt or innocence - that is for the courts to decide after a due consideration of facts.

What really needs to be looked at is the extraordinary inhuman and violent behaviour of the police in effecting the arrest. It seems to me that they violated every canon in their rule books. First of all, they forced their way into Mr. Karunanidhi's house at dead of night. If their excuse is that arrest during day might have caused a law and order problem, I would say it is their business to handle such problems should they occur. (One of the easiest ways to avoid such a problem is to invite the person concerned to come to a police station and read out the complaint against him, offer him his lawyer's help and then arrest him if necessary.) Then again the former Chief Minister is not exactly the type of man who would run away if the police wanted to talk to him - which incidentally is what they should have done first if they had a complaint against him.

The true outrage was in arresting him at dead of night, something which the Supreme Court has expressly forbidden except in the rarest of rare cases. And to repeat, there was no justification for displaying so much violence against a man of 78, who has been in public life for 60 years, who was Chief Minister for 15 years and is one of the most distinguished leaders of the country.

It has been suggested that the intention of - shall I say? - the authorities was to humiliate him. Well, in the eyes of the public it was the policemen who humiliated themselves. Never again will the ordinary citizen look at the police with trust and respect. Fear, undoubtedly, and that is about all.

Inevitably, the people's minds are drawn back to the time when the present Chief Minister was arrested soon after she lost the election, and how differently she was treated.

The police were the heroes on that occasion. They waited for her to finish her morning pooja, were most deferential in escorting her to prison. This was testified to by the people present on the occasion, such as Jennifer Arul of Star News.

The Chief Minister's TV, or at least the TV that supports the Chief Minister to the hilt, tried to contrast the dignified behaviour of the lady with that of Mr. Karunanidhi, but then the police did not lay a hand on the present Chief Minister at that hour of reckoning of hers.

After the shock and horror I felt at the treatment of Mr. Karunanidhi by the police, the only other feeling I had was one of immense sadness. Sadness for our State and the quagmire of its politics, from which we do not seem to be able to extricate ourselves. Sadness for our people who are by and large gentle and good, and do not ask for much more than a reasonable subsistence.

Sadness for our youth who seem to be taken in by the cynicism and glamour of politicians. Above all, I am filled with a great sadness for our Chief Minister whose only preoccupation now seems to be a dark angel of revenge. A lively, sparkling youngster full of humour and joie de vivre, who grew up to be a beautiful young woman with an astonishing array of talents - acting, dancing and singing; an extraordinarily well-read person, proficient in several languages, including English and Hindi; a considerable politician and crowd-puller. She has the potential to lead the people of the State into an Arcadia.

One only hopes that with the present sad incident, which does not in any way redound to her glory, out of the way, she will apply her intelligence and skills to the betterment of the State and its people, rather than continue to waste her substance in the arid pursuit of settling old scores.

* * *

BEFORE I drop the subject, I must say that a photograph of Mr. Karunanidhi, sitting on the ground in front of the Central Jail, looking extremely small in comparison with the burly policemen surrounding him, will always haunt me.

* * *

HERE IS a bitter letter from a reader, concerned at road accidents, and how common they are but how little attention they receive, compared to train and air accidents.

``Untrained and drunken drivers, blinding headlights and the craze for reaching one's destinations fast result in collisions and pathetic deaths. One wonders whether Tamil Nadu, which has a good record in family planning, will also lead in family annihilations... The Government of India should declare Tamil Nadu roads unsafe and disastrous for night travel.''

* * *

THERE ARE others who are as dismayed as I am by the vulgarity and crudeness in cable TV shows, Nandini Voice for the Deprived being one. This group is particularly disturbed by the fact that three generations of a family watch TV together.

The younger persons might think that anything that is good enough for their parents and grandparents should be good enough for them.

Nandini invites all concerned citizens to write in a postcard on the matter, giving their names and addresses to participate in a national signature campaign against vulgar TV programmes for being sent to the Prime Minister, and send it to: Nandini Voice of the Deprived, M60/1, 4th Cross St., Besant Nagar, Madras-90.

* * *

DIGNITY FOUNDATION, Chennai Chapter, has as its goal enriching the lives of senior citizens. The address is: 23 (11) Halls Road, off Taylors Road, Kilpauk, Chennai-10 (tel: 6473165). They ask senior citizens in distress and need of help to call that number between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

* * *

IT TURNS out, Parthasarathy, when Mr. George Bush (father of the present President of the United States) was Vice-President, he stayed in a hotel in New Orleans and the fire alarm went off one night. Everybody scrambled to the lobby, and after a while it was discovered to be a false alarm.

The guests then moved to the lifts, and Mr. Bush tried to push his way into the first lift. When the attendant tried to stop him from getting ahead of the others, Mr. Bush said: I am the Vice- President. The attendant immediately said: In that case, sir, please go ahead. Then he had a second thought, and asked Mr. Bush: Vice-President of what? Mr. Bush answered proudly: Of the United States. Whereupon the attendant said: You get right back in line. I thought you were one of the vice-presidents of the hotel.

S. KRISHNAN

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