Election results and lessons
For all the imperfections in the voting systems, I do not mind this election result for a few reasons.
- This election has taught a lesson or two to PMK - a party with saints like ‘Kolathur Mani’ and ‘Kaduvetti Guru’ (pthooo!)
- I hope people like Ameer and Seeman would concentrate more on their next film projects.
- Vijaykanth did his spoiler act again as did Chiranjeevi in Andhra. Coming to think of it, there is nothing to be ashamed about their performance in these elections. I never thought DMDK would get deposits in most of the constituencies. It turns out they did far better than that. With a maturity that belies his stint in politics, Chiraneevi has a bright future in politics.
- Junior Vikatan and Kumudam reporter will be back to their old tricks of writing steamy tales about actresses, kannada prasad, Seevalaperi Pandi etc. We need their service since most of the tamil mahajanam find it embarassing to read straight porn at home.
- Most of the ‘tamil ina unarvalrgal’ in tamil blogosphere will return to their old tricks of bashing the brahmin community to entertain themselves. ‘Ennadhu Aavin booth la paal varalaya? Blame it on the brahmins!’. (I dont want to spit for now, will do after some ‘anony’ comments).
P Chidambaram, T R Baalu, not to mention MK and Sonia Gandhi will have to thank Vijaykanth for this result in TN. I am afraid they will thank him again in 2011 if he does not get the poll alliance arithmetic right. A high school crash in course basic mathematics, probability and statistics will do more good for Vijaykanth than all the money spent on astrologers.
Half the makkal in’Makkal oda kootani’ do not come to vote, leave alone election work.
Regarding the much abused ‘Tamizh ina unarvu’, I have not read much on the origin of civilizations, on factors like culture, language, tradition and how they evolve, how people migrate from one place to another, etc. I do not know what is mere herd instinct and what is in-born feeling and what is implanted by an overdose of ideology and rhetoric. I am very sceptical about gaining those perspectives by mere observation, these concepts take a long time to evolve.
I kinda know with some confidence that the Indian born Tamils in US or Canada in due course (next generations) will feel less concerned about the Tamils in India. Its no fault of them. Thats how it will be, thats how it has always be. I don’t think any of the desi Citizens in US (the tamils) will vote for their US president based on a TN specific issue (say civil war in chennai in 2050).
Except for countries like Canada and Australia and the nordic, no country is a saint in foreign policy, just as no political party is a saint within the country.
If calling all the tamils in Tamil Nadu and Indians in general as ‘pinam thinni’, ‘naaigal’, ‘ ‘animals’ etc will help some good cause, we do not care. Since all humans are this and much more in their minds, with no exceptions as a matter of fact.
Since i do not have political ambitions, nor do i want to be featured in Ju.Vi, Aa,vi, Kotaavi etc, I have nothing significant to add beyond this.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I enjoyed the totally impersonal, all-around scoldings you’ve dished out to everyone..:)
May 18th, 2009 at 10:25 am
PK,
Appo GoSL-in genocide pathiyo, illa namma arusugaloda ‘aadhavarum’, ‘naadagangal’ pathiyo edhuvume kandukka koodadhu-nu solreengala? (leaving aside LTTE for the moment) Puriliye…
P.S: For the record, obviously it looks like for many people in TN, it didn’t matter actually, especially as far as the election was concerned. Thats a diff issue…
May 18th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Subha
thanks…yeah basically pazhaya status ku thirumba porom! (edited this comment)
May 18th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Bala,
Enaku therila enna solradhu nu….
Kanduttu onume aaga poradhu illai.. why do we even expect ‘fair and true’ treatment and ‘human rights’ from military outfits in the first place…
If you truly care for your people you don’t drive to that situation in the first place…
I feel angry..abt this collosal waste of human lives in the last 20 odd years and it all ended the way it did…bcos some guy was just insane…
Neraya matter kavidhai eludharadhuku nalla irukkum..
Nobody talks abt hiroshima, jews, Cambodia, E Timor now…do we?
This world is an ugly and brutal place…
May 18th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
PK, My concern is that the party in power at the moment in TN has bribed the people so much with patronage, freebies and what not, it is going to be very hard to break their hold on power, unless there is a miracle.
Another interesting thing to note in my parents’ constituency - Chidambaram - usually for any key LTTE related event, we don’t run our buses or cut our schedule for fear of thugs attacking our crew or damaging the buses. Same goes for the government buses and other private buses. But because the instigator got elected, there was no trouble whatsoever even with the LTTE leader being killed.
From a distance (US), it was interesting to see the spin in Tamil news by the likes of Seeman, Bharathiraja etc.
Love the post, BTW.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:42 am
PK, the funny thing is we were discussing this two or three sundays ago. I had called home and my parents told me that there were some interesting developments in the election and they wanted to watch TV and asked me to call them back..
then we found out that MK went on to announce that the LTTE supremo and him were like brothers. That would be really weird because by association everyone in TN would be branded as supporting a terrorist organization if the party in power supported that organization. also it would mean MK who had alignment with Congress, would be a thorn for supporting the very same people who took out Rajiv. The thing was like a puzzle that had no answer, a mobius strip of sorts…
after the phone call the wise ones on this end asked me how any of this mattered and I said “twenty years from now, if the US goes to war because the next wave of taliban is a Kazhagam version of Tamizhban” our kids need to know…
to take a quote from Seinfeld… “there is no such thing as an innocent bystander!”
is there?
May 20th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Ram,
>>PK, My concern is that the party in power at the moment in TN has bribed the people so much with patronage, freebies and what not, it is going to be very hard to break their hold on power, unless there is a miracle.
Money for votes has been there for a long time. In my view, any ‘aalungatchi’ resorts to this at some point. Besides this, there are other forms of manipulations as well. For e.g voters who are believed to be ‘X’ party’s vote bank do not get their voter slips, the election officer would not let you vote without it so its one vote less for your opponent.
My 2 cents what worked phenomenally to the ruling party was the spoiler effect by vijaykanth.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:03 am
“Kanduttu onume aaga poradhu illai.. ”
Let’s stop blogging then
“why do we even expect ‘fair and true’ treatment and ‘human rights’ from military outfits in the first place…
If you truly care for your people you don’t drive to that situation in the first place…”
Vasthavam adhukkaaga? I mean please don’t get me wrong, i also tend to be pessimistic, cynical and fatalistic but was just surprised and curious at your tone.
“bcos some guy was just insane…”
Yaaru solreenga?
“Nobody talks abt hiroshima, jews, Cambodia, E Timor now…do we?
This world is an ugly and brutal place…”
Yes, nobody talks about E.Timor alright but Hiroshima and Jews???? Come on, not in the least to make light of the plight of the victims concerned but ulaga alavula almost unanimous a public discourse, sorrow, remembrance, regret irukkunga.
All this said, however, i think i share your sentiment on one thing - the thoppul kodi argument. Yes, they are our “neighbours” (in physical/geographical terms) and our ‘kin’ but i don’t share the notion of a section that its many times more “important” to feel a sense of loss and extend solidarity (of course we do nothing other than rant or write, thats a diff issue) for the Eelam cause than for, say, the Palestine issue, though in my mind, the suffering of the Palestine people is in a way unprecedented and unique in many ways and the magnitude and nature on a different scale.
Also, one can understand the criticism of LTTE (if unconditional support for them is what irs you about the thamizh unarvu bloggers) but definitely, what does one think and say about a govt that cluster bombs *its own people* (as claimed by it)???
May 21st, 2009 at 6:43 am
Bala,
>>“Kanduttu onume aaga poradhu illai.. ”
Let’s stop blogging then..
Granted I am numb. Ellam sethadhuku aprom blog panni SL armya nirutha mudiyuma…they are not civilized enough… i am reading about white vans without
number plate…
How may people who are writing now wrote anything about during all these years? 2002? 2006?
I don’t have much expectations from the Sri Lanka government. Avanga correct a irundhirndha indha prachnai ivlo dhooram vandhirukaadhu… I remember the 1983 times, i guess i was in class 2,3 or so then… So it does not shock me… We’ve read what far more liberal, progressive governments and their armies do to their civilians…
>>But i don’t share the notion of a section that its many times more “important” to feel a sense of loss and extend solidarity (of course we do nothing other than rant or write, thats a diff issue) for the Eelam cause than for, say, the Palestine issue
That’s essentially my point.
Hiroshima and Jews were of a completely different proportion…though it kinda feel too cold blooded to ‘measure’ and ‘compare’ man inflicted catastrophes like this…
Indha prachnai had been there for long..the conflict is my age now… and in my view they had ample opportunities to solve it keeping the civilians in mind…
Say, there is eelam.. what is the probability that they can have a peaceful, democratic rule considering the animosity with the sinhalese majority in their backward in the south?
I don’t nor have read anything to prove that LTTE had any democratic, progressive ideas in mind at any given point…If they had, they would’nt have killed so many tamil leaders…if thats the case why should we support LTTE.. just bcos the names sound very tamilish?
>“bcos some guy was just insane…”
Yaaru solreenga?
I mean Prabhakaran.
If someone leads some struggle for as long as 25-30 years and leads to situations like this.. its a matter of leadership failure too… Leadership is not about guns, bombs, suicide squads, arms for 30 years…in my view.
Mistakes after mistakes after mistakes in all these years and in the end, they claim they are silencing their guns, doling out unilateral ceasefires…considering the innocent’s lives…
vidunga… enakku ‘ina unarvu’ kammi dhaan…