India's General Election 2024 The Prospects of the BJP and strategies

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The bugle of elections has been sounded and the campaign to capture power has started. There is an increase of 11.5% in the strength of the Electorate and a significantly larger number of candidates are conrtesting, compared to the 2019 Elections. There are two broad allainces, the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP and the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance the I. N. D. I Alliance. Rahul Gandhi, though not the declared leader, is the public face of this motely crowd.

Let us start with the I. N. D, I Alliance. The grouping is riven with personalitiy clashes and strong anti incumbancy wave in the two major states ruled by components of the Alliance: West Bengal and Karnataka. In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the NDA is mounting a serious challenge but both the DMK and the CPM have deep roots and so there is only limited hope of BJP gaining a strong posse of seats. I expect asround 6 to 12 seats for the NDA from both these states together. In Karnataka and in West Bengal the BJP is slated to do well. The campaign of Rahul Gandhi is proving to be a huge embarassment to his Alliance. His statement against Sakthi has not gone down well and he has not mastered the art of political rhetoric which even ordinary members of the BJP have total command over. The seats for the INDI Alliance will not increase and Congress numbers may even fall. Except Punjab where the APP will getr the majority of the seats, the INDI Alliance is on a stricky wicket everywhere else in the country.

What are the issues before the Electorate: Governance, Internal Security, Economy, Infrastructure and Employment. On all these issue, except employment the Government has performed well. Governance has remained  more or less corruption free and there are no major scandals, financial or otherwise, affecting the credibility of the BJP. The Electoral Bonds which the Congress has tried to portray as "Licensed Corruption" was introduced to check the role of unaccounted money in the electoral process. The very fact that the electoral bonds could be traced back to the original donor is proof of the good faith in which the Government acted. Unfortunately the Government of India has to contend with a unified Opposition and a hyperactive Judiciary which struck down the Electoral Bond Scheme. It will be reintroduced after the General Elections. And a major slew of reforms of the judiciary including the judges appointing judges system that is in vogue today will ne introduced. The CAA has finally been passed and except for some organized identity groups, there is hope that Citizenship will be rolled out to the minorities in Pakistan. There have been some tension with regard to Center-State Relations. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have refused to cooperate with the Centre on sensitive issues pertaining to transnational crime. I expect the next Government to define Law and Order which have been left by the Constitution to the Statesmore precisely. The Indian Economy has been growing at an average of 8% and the World Bank  and IMF expect this trend to continue. Unfortunately this is largely growth without employment as the only jobs available to the younger generation are in the gig economy. India has seen a phenomenal growth in terms of Infrastructure and the investment in Ports, Railways and Highways will continue. In fact the impressive economic growth figures of India comes from Infrastructural growth.

Given the track record of Governance, Internal Security and Economy I expect Narendra Modi to make a clean sweep in the forthcoming elections. I have not been wrong in my electoral prediction so far and I venture to state that the BJP will win between 334 to 354 seats. give or take a few. The 400+ that the leadership talks of is hype. Unless South India makes a complete U turn  in its politics, this number is not possible. And South India has outlawed miracles. 

All in all a BJP led Government seems probable.  Apart from the Electoral Bonds and the Arvind Khejriwal arrest and imprisonment the Government has not taken any major misstep. The Liquor Policy Scam in which Kavitha the daughter of K C  Rao, the former CM of Telengana and Manish Sisodia and of course now, the Chief Minister od Delhi figure as accused, is only fizz in a beer bottle. It will be impossible for the ED to prove the case in court and this makes me suspect that political motives are behind this strategy. If the Cabinet is guilty of making the decision why is the LT. Gov of Delhi who signed off on the policy not make part of the conspiracy.

India is facing serious challenges in the neighborhood. The tensions in West Asia are increasing and the war in Ukraine though is winding down is showing no sign of approaching peace. Tensions with China will continue as India maintains a strong and aggressive posture.

Culture Wars in Tamil Nadu A New Beginning?

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

It is still too early to say whether the few swallows fluttering against the dead morbid skies of Dravidianist parties marks the beginning of a New Spring. Neverhteless the fact that the master narrative of Dravidianism is being challenged on its own turf by ther likes of Maridas and Kishore K Swamy. The dravidianist master narrative was founded on three pillars all of which remained essentially unchallenged which led to dravidianism becoming the dominant hegemonic ideology of the Tamil society. Though there have been bitter personal and political battled between thr three factions of dravidianist political formations--DK, AIADMK and the DMK--there was no challenge at the level of ideology. All three were quite content arguing with each other within the margins set by the dominant ideology.

In the mid nineteeth century, a Protestant cleric called Rober Cauldwell propouded the racial theory of Dravidian exclusivism based on his study of the Tamil Language. In his bookComparative  Grammar of Dravidian Languages he argued that (a) Tamil and Snaskrit do not share any common heitage and Tamil language arose independent of Sanskrit (b) from this he went on to identify the Tamil speaking population as Dravidian and (c) Tamil Race with its exclusive culture is opposed to other Cultures/World Views/Social and Political Formations. To execute this exclusive ideology based on a contrived misreading of History politcal actors like E V Ramasamy Naikkar and his group launched a vicious violent and ferocious campaign against Brahmins who were identified as (a) Aryans therefore not Dravidian (b) Sankritic Culture which they allegedy upheld was ant Tamil therfore anti Dravidian and (c) their Religion is uncivilized and barbaric. Ramasamy's deranged rhetoric did not end with these three propositions. But they form the cornerstone of Dravidianism and that has been the ruling ideology of Tamil Nadu for nearly a century and with the DMK coming to power in 1967 was in a position to translate them into policy and the Brahmins and the SC Population bore the brunt of this sort of political fascism.

The 67% Reservation in medical, engeneering and other professional courses, including jobs essentially excluded the Brahmins from employment in Tamil Nadu and they migrated to the North leaving the field open for depradation. The few who were left, like the Kasturi Group which runs the Hindu m,ade their peace with Dravidianism and were quite content to lend the weight of their Newspaper for the propogation ofthe Dravidian ideology. Any dissent from the dominant ideas was branded "castetist" "fascist" and more recently "anti subaltern". There was no space fo dissent from the dominant ideology. History was distorted to subserve this end. The SangamAge was valorized as a "pristine age" before the fall brought about by the advent of Hindu religion. The fact that many Vedic deities are mentioned is conveniently ignored. The role of Sanskrit in shaping the culture and civilization of Tamil Society is often ignore. The fact that medieval dynasties like the Cholas and the Pandyas issued their inscriptions  in bothe Tamil and Sanskrit is suppressed and only the meykritis of the Cholas were regarded as historical evidence ignoring the large volume of Sanskrit Inscriptions. Medieval Inscriptions were written in Grantha, the true script of the Tamil Language. The Temple and its ramifications around the historical space of Tamil region was quite falsely and in a way tragically misrepresented as "sinful" "irrational" "savage" a line of thught derived from the early sixteenth century Europeans who visited India and were quite shocked at the open and exuberant dispaly of sensuality in Temples. E V Ramasamy Naikkar in fact advocated a sort of iconoclasm against the Vaishnava tradition and is best seen in positioning a statue of this man in his iconic squatting posture with beard and upper cloth smack outside the Great Srirangam Temple. Tamil language and script was mutilated by the removal of what they thought were varga letters or symbols
from the writing system altogether and today that mutilation is celebrated as liberation. The Tamil Printing Presses were forced to aboandon the grantha letters and a strange script without the intermediate vowels was thrust down in the name of Pure Tamil.

The Brahmins bore the brunt of the fascist attack just as the Jews bore the brunt of the attack in the German incarnation of fascism, the Nazi Party. And as long as the target of attck was the Brahmin community, tgheir values, their religion and culture the domiant backward castes which formed the backbone of the dravidianist movement did not stir. Of late the attack has shifted to a general attack on the indigenous faith and its culture by a group that calls itself Karpagu Kootam. A few months back a vulgar "poet" Vairamuthu made some obscne comments on the Vaishnava Saint, Andal who was revered even by Krishnadevaraya who composed the Amuktamalyada in her honour, the Giver of Worn Garlands. The son of the dead Patriarch of the dravidianist polical faction, DMK, one misnamed, Ayyadurai aks Stalin, made some nasty remarks about Hindu wedding rituals and when the beloved God of the Tamil region Skanda/ Muruga/Subramania was attcked the worm turned. Now the culture war was on.

The Tamil Media has been a handmaid of the dravidianist parites and there are credible accounts that news broadcast is based on ideology and money. The narrative was exclusively one sided: the dravidianist side and no other voice was heard. Against this hegemony of Sun TV, Jaya TV, Vijay TV,Makkal TV etc each an arm of a particular dravidianist faction, two youn men Maridass and Kishore Swamy have emerged as credible voices of dissent. Using Social Media Platform like UTube and Twitter they have raised certain vital issues that hit at the very root of the dravidianist ideologies. First, while they attck Hind faith in general and Vaishnava faith in particular, do the dravidianist have the courage to call out the Semetic religions. The answer is No. They have questioned the legitimacy of E V Ramasamy Naikkar being given the honour of being a "Socretes" that is "teacher" and "philosopher". The land scams of his followers stand exposed. They have enen questioned whether Ayyadurai aka Stalin, the son of Karunanidhi was ever a MISA detainee. It has been an article of faith that this misnamed man was in jail as a political prisoner during the Emergency. The challenge is to prove that he was in prison for political and not crimianl reasons. And the response of the DMK has been pathetic. When Dr Subramaniam Swamy raised the 2G Scam, Karubnanidhi tried in vain to turb it into a brahmin vs high caste non brahmin issue and he failed and his daughter spent 11 months in jail and the case is still going on.

This time around the attck is happening where it hurts. And the attackeras are from within the tradition and hence we must take this counter narrative that is slowly being crafted seriously.

Muthuvel Karunanidhi and his Politics of Hate Identity and Corruption

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Muthuvel Karunanidhi (1924-2018) was a politician par excellence. A gifted orator in what is called medai Tamil (Platform Tamil) he was elected to the State Assembly 13 times and has the record of not being defeated in a single election. He became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu after the death of C N Annadurai who led the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam to a resounding victory in 1967 after defeating the Congress. In fact even the stalwart Kamaraj faced the humiliation of defeat and Tamil Nadu has remained thankfully Congress Mukth since.  Karunanidhi out maneuvered the chosen successor of Annadurai, Nedunzhelian who was the Finance Minister and the de facto Number 2 in the Cabinet. Karunanidhi was the Public Works Department Minister and was in the fourth position. Deft political moves, timely alliances and a relentless drive for power made Karunanidhi successful in the race. Having acquired the post, Karunanidhi went on to be the Chief Minister for 3 full terms. He was also dismissed, once by Indira Gandhi and again once by the interim Prime Minister, Chandrasekar. Karunanidhi had two very important qualities which saw him through. First, he was not encumbered with moral scruples of any sort. Second, he was an indefatigable worker capable of long hours of arduous work and had a fantastic memory for texts, faces and names. It is said that he remembered the names of all the prominent leaders of the party from across the state.

Karunanidhi was the product of the Non Brahmin Movement which saw the coalition of all intermediate landed castes and kin groups and communities uniting against a minuscule minority, the brahmins. Accusing the brahmins of being Aryan, an absurd and  an absolutely disingenuous assertion, the Justice Party and later the Dravida Kagzhagam launched a vicious campaign of terror against the Brahmins. This was also the time when Fascism was ruling Europe and many of the techniques used by the anti brahmmin Movement were directly copied from the play book of the Nazis. Brahmin women were harassed on the roads when they went around their daily work. Brahmin priests who wore the tuft were forcibly deprived of their tufts and men who were suspected of wearing the janevu (sacred thread) were forcibly made to remove it. Such atrocities had a permanent impact on the brahmin psyche and I dare say it has not healed until this day. Upon, the death of Karunanidhi some commentators asked why there is no visible sense of loss felt among the brhmains. A simple answer to that question is that Israel will not mourn for Hitler. A racist attack against a small insignificant minority in the name of a glorious imagine civilization of the dravidian people was the hallmark of Karunanidhi and his mentor. After the DMK came to power discrimination against Brahmins became institutionalized and public employment became impossible and many families, including mine, just left Tamil Nadu. The Indian liberal who is quick to point out instances of discrimination, is silent when it comes to the systematic exclusion of brahmins from the public sphere in Tamil Nadu. It will be accurate to say that there has been no brahmin MP from Tamil Nadu for the past 50 years except Venkataraman. No brahmin Minister of Vice Chancellor for the past 60 years. Such systematic persecution is a crime against humanity.

Caste politics was buttressed by the meanest kind of rent seeking. Government contracts were given only to persons who would plough back the proceeds to the Party and the first family. Right from the start, the DMK has practiced corruption as an attribute of statecraft. The TNPSC became for all intents and purposes a collection house for the DMK. A fixed sum of money was collected from the aspirants for government posts. A Class I Officers post carried a premium of around 50 lakhs and a constable carried a price tag of around 3 to 5 lakhs. Medical Education and Technological became increasingly privatized. The anti NEET agitation is only a reflection of the staranglehold acquired by politicians on professional education.

Karunanidhi led a very colourful personal life and that does not concern me. As our Lord and Saviour has said: Judge Not, Lest ye be judged. However, the fact that his two sons are openly contesting each other for both the Party and the Moohla that goes with it shows that private decisions can have public consequences. The manner in which his third son, M K Stalin alias Ayyadurai choreographed the public spectacle of Karunanidhi's funeral by completely air brushing his elder brother Alagirio from all public appearances shows that funerals in Dravidianist Tamil Nadu are a political theatre. Stalin received the Prime Minister and was shown in public as the Chief Mourner, accompanying his fathers body to the burial site and this has consolidated the public sympathy in favour of Stalin. I do not know if Alagiri will be able to recover.

Corruption Crime and Communal incitement were not the only arrows in the quiver of Karunanidhi. He flirted with the LTTE and when he was in power in the early 1990s the LTTE had acquired a free run over Tamil Nadu. The Kodambakkam Massacre in Zakharia Garden is proof of the absolute breakdown of law and order in the tenure of Karunanidhi. The assasins were allowed free passage to Vedaranyam from where a waiting dingy took them to Sri Lanka. And to prevent him from talking, the DGP, Durai was silenced.

The end of Karunanidhi brings to a close a dangerous and socially repugnant chapter in the history of India. Identity politics in the name of Race, Language, Caste, Creed were all weapons used for political patronage and power. I do not think Alagiri or Stalin possess the same level of chutzpah.

The Return of J Jayalalithaa: Requiem to Dravidian Politics

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books J Jajalalithaa too the oath of office for the fifth time this morning. Wearing a green Sari with an emerald ring sparkling on her right index finger she signed the Register. The Governor Rosaiah was doing his best to look comfortable as her ministers lined up to genuflect before her in the strict order of ministerial rank. The fact that she has been acquitted by the Karnataka High Court in the Disproportionate Asset case made her return possible. Critics have already smudged her copy book pointing out the seemingly glaring arithmetical error which resulted in Justice Kumaraswamy acquitting her on the judicial premise that her assets are within the permissible margin of error. Her critics seem to be unaware that an acquittal can be overturned by rectifying the mathematical calculation. The entire accounting of the assets have to be redone and that will not make any material change in the judgement. Though the acquittal will be challenged in the Supreme Court, the chances of it being set aside are rather slim. So J Jayalaithaa has crossed the last legal hurdle before the 2016 State Assembly Polls. Dravidian style politics is now on its last legs. The ostentatious display of identity symbols, the cloud display of personality cult, the obsequiousness toward party leadership and the immediate family, the wanton disregard to political and cultural values are all part of the political culture of high Dravidianism. J Jayalalithaa did not personally endorse any of these aberration, but had to fall in line with the established code of Dradidian politics. Even the corruption charges for which she was repeatedly prosecuted at the behest of Karunanidhi and Subramania Swamy was more the doing of her inner circle consisting of Sashikala and her Kallar relatives than of her own making. However, the fact is that in the menagerie of Indian politics, J Jayalalithaa enjoys the distintion of being the only politician who has been disqualified twice for corruption and has got back to power. It is very unlikely that Karunanidhi's daughter will escape the punishment as the case against her is water tight with little scope for legal jugglery. It is hoped that this time around she delivers on her promise, The closet politician with whom Jayalalithaa can be compared is Eva Peron. Like Eva, the present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu is adored by the masses almost bordering on mass adulation. It is a foregone conclusion that she will sweep the next election as the populist schemes launched by her will fetch a rich harvest of votes. Launched in the name of AMMA, or Mother, these schemes all touch the lives of ordinary citizens. This new dimension of using the state and its machinery to redistibute resources has been perfected by the AIADMK and was started by her mentor, MGR. Surprisingly the total cost of these schemes is around 5,000 crores while the state earns nearly 30.000 crores by the sale of liquor through the TASMAC outlets. The immediate task before the present Chief Minister is the restore the confidence of the international financiers and kick start the stalled infra structure projects.

Sri Lanka, the Tamil Issue and the DMK: The theatre of the absurd

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books A wave of student unrest is spreading across Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The students and youth are out on the streets protesting against the Sri Lankan Government and its alleged involvement in the civilian casualties during the tail end of the war in May 2009. I have elsewhere pointed out that India did not put pressure on Sri Lanka to minimize civilian casualties, probably keeping the LTTE and its horrendous record of ,mass killing in mind. The fact that is now forgotten is that the LTTE took 250,000 men, women and children hostage during the last days of the war and used this civilian population as a human shield. The DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu at that time and Karunanidhi did nothing except go on a farcical hunger strike that lasted just 15 minutes. His fast was called off within less than fifteen minutes and this itself shows that the old bandicoot is not serious about the Tamil cause. The issue now is the US sponsored resolution about alleged human rights violations by the Sri Lankan army. The DMK wants India to support this US backed resolution before the UNHRC. USA is a country that has destroyed Iraq, supported insurgents in Libya, arranged for the killing of Qadaffi, now arming the Syrian rebels to create lawlessness in Syria and with this track record no one can take US protestations on human rights seriously. However, human rights is a very good instrument by which great powers can intervene in the internal affairs of other copuntries. The US backed resolution is likely to be defeated as there is a great deal of opposition to the inclusion of internal security problems in an internationally binding resolution. India cannot afford to back a UN resolution calling for international inveerstigation in alleges war crimes comitted by Sri Lanka as Indian track recors in Kashmir and Nagaland is perhaps worse than that of the Sri Lankan Army. Therefore the criminal Congress dominated UPA under Man Mohan Sigh did what it does best: it spoke in contradictory voices. Chidambaram was dispatched to placate the old bandicoot and he said that Karunanidhis's concerns will be addressed. All the time the External Affairs Ministry knew that India cannot be party to a UN resolution which will set a precedent for India. Knowing full well that the mind of the UPA was made up,. Karunanidhi walked out of the UPA. His calculation is that by walking out, the sentiments of the people will be turned toward the DMK. This is unlikely as the DMK is perceived to be a corrupt and criminal party and the daughter of the old bandicoot himself is facing criminal charges stemming from her involvement in the 2G spectrum scandal. However, the UN resolution and the declining credibility of the DMK has led to a very serious problem. Sri Lankan citizens are being attacked everwhere. A few days back a Buddhist monk who had gone to the Big Temple, Tanjavur, was beaten up. Tamil pilgrims from the Planatations who were visiting the pilgrimage town of Vellankani were roughed up. Sri Lankan cricket players are being attacked and the office of the Deputy High Commissioner in Chennai is under threat. The UPA under Man Mohan Singh knowing full well that it cannot support the US resolution should have argued its case in a transparent manner which it did not do. The DMK is going to be wiped out in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls along with the Congress. The people of India have decided to give Hon'ble Narendar Modi a chance and so the BJP will win by default. The fact is that the Sri Lankan Army under General Fonseka did kill a large number of civilians incl;uding Balachader, the son of Prbhakaran. The video images are now being selectively being released and Channel IV seems to have an unlimited access to war footage. Of course dark deeds were done. But is the Government of Sri Lanka responsible for them under international Law. In conditions of war collateral damge do take place.

BAIL OR JAIL FOR KANIMOZHI? DO POLITICIANS DESERVE ANY SYMPATHY

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and bOOks.

I think that the legal advice Ms Kanimozhi is getting is not only of poor quality, but worse it is proving counter productive. Kanimozhi and her father represent a strand of Indian political culture that takes India back to the days of dynastic rule and the culture of the courtier, courtesan, and criminal. The DMK as a party and as a political movement has shown scant respect for rule of law. In it said that in Tamil Nadu when the DMK rules the police cannot take action against criminals because of the rampant criminalisation of the political culture. In fact on the 100th birthday of Annadurai more than 100 hardened criminals were released from jail and all of them were serving life sentences. In fact the killers of Menaka, the fearless woman councillor of Madurai who took on the "tanker lorry mafia" in Maduarai were released and the main accused had served less than 1 year fin jail after being convicted of murder. So let not the DMK preach about rule of law. They suddenly discover the virtues of law only when King Lerar's daughter is in jain for criminal misconduct. I think the real issue is the sort of values this aging partiarch has imparted to his children. The DMK is a lumpen party with dynastic fascism as its core ideology just like the Congress.

I have met Kanimozhi on one ocassion and found her pleasant and engaging and was extremely courteous to me. So I would not have personally been offended if she had been granted bail. But we are addressing a larger question. Do politicians deserve sympathy. The answer to this question is no. They have systematically plundered the country. The 2G Spectrum sacandal is only one of several. The 1984 carnage organised by the Congress party after the death of Indiara Gandhi has not resulted in a single conviction. The case against that Yadava criminal from Bihar--Laloo Prasad-- will come up only after the last witness has been killed. The illiterate fellow is still disgracing the Parliament. So India has a nation has no symapahy for politicians. Political crime is a low investment and high return industry. See the case of Papu Yadava, D P Yadava, Neera Yadava and sundry others. Not one has been convicted.

Kanimozhi should have asked bail on the ground that her role in the 2G spectrum was limited to the 200 crores invested in Kalaignar TV and should have been successful in getting bail. However she said that being a woman, a wife and having an aged parent she should be given bail. Just imagine the chaos that would result if bail is granted on these spurious grounds. Every congress man will make his wife the benami for his crimes and the poor woman will be in jail and then bail. Thank god that O P Saini has seen through this argument. Moreover, the DMK is capable of having witness eliminated. If fact one of the directors of the Grrehouse Promoters was killed and the Chennai police made it look like suicide. What about the killing of Paul who was the E O of Tiruchendur Temple whose gold was looted by a DMK bigwig several decades back. DMK like the Congress party has crime in its DNA and deserves no sympathy. Let the patriarch suffer like King Lear.

The Dravidian Parties and the Sri lanka Jaffna Tamil Crisis

George Orwell pointed out several decades back that politicians use words not to communicate but to obscure, confuse and obfuscate. The Dravidian Parries, political, cultural and transgender ones, are past masters in this game. Take the term Sri Lankan Tamils, for instance. The use of this particular term would suggest that Sri Lankan Tamils are entirely Jaffna and Eastern Tamils only. The fact is that the Jaffna Tamils are of high-caste vellala origin and hence the Dravidian Political parties support them. The MBC and BC oriented politics of Tamil Nadu means that there so-called Jaffna Tamils get sympathy for reasons OF THEIR CASTE ORIGIN., The sympathy of the Dravidian politicos for the Sri Lanks based Tamils is not based on humanitarian principles but on caste considerations. The other section of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka, the plantation Tamils, are of Schedule caste and poor social and economic backgrpound, and therefore the BC and MBC dominated Dravidian8an parties show no sympathy for the Plantation Tamiols. The greatest surprise is the fact that Sc based parties like the Dalit Panthers led by Shri Timumavalavan also eschew the Plantation Tamils. Why does not the plight of the Plantation Tamils npot create any waves in Tamil Nadu, and the living and political conditions of the plantatation Tamils is much worse than the situation confronting the Jaffna based Tamils.The Indian media always confuses the issue by making it appear that the Jaffna Tamils are the sole Tamil population in Sri Lanka. The plantation Tamils were sent to Sri Lanka through the kankani system by which labor was recruited for the plantation economy in Malaysi8a, Sri Lanka and South Africa. The recruits usually came from ther lowest social sector and in India they would be classifies as the SC community. For this reason the Dravidian political dispensation does not highlight the conditions under which the highland Tamils live.The Plantation Tamils have no cultural or political rights and after 5 generation they are even considered stateless. These Plantation Tmils because of the lower social and economic status in the Tamil caste system are looked down by the Jaffna Tamil and do not intermarry or have social ties with them. The fact remains that the Plantation Tamils have no sympathy for the cause of the Jaffna Tamils. Karunanidhi must be laughing all the way to the election booth. His stunt of fasting lasted less than one hour and he went to thye grave of Mr Annadurai in the Marina with 6 air coolers a clutch of wives and party men. His shameless stunt may get him some votes in the game of competitive chauvinism indulged in by the high cast dominated Dravidian parties. It is obvious that Rajapakshe has a tight game plan and the killing of LTTE chief Prabhakaran is the beginning of the end of the politics of Dravidian EXCLUSIVITY