Crocodile tears
Mention Tamil refugees and CM Karunanidhi goes into drama mode. Some weeks after he sent a 10 MP team including daughter Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi to Sri Lanka to visit the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in their camps he was apparently unaware of the plight of the 73,241 refugees (31,802 Sri Lankan Tamils live outside camps) under his very nose in 115 camps in 26 districts of Tamil Nadu till a local magazine blew the lid off the scandalous conditions including poor amenities (no toilets, poor electricity), lack of bore- well, no access to higher education, no jobs. While sanctioning Rs 12 crore immediately after an emergency meeting with ministers – who are in a tizzy currently visiting camps all over the state to submit a report by November 10 – and officials, he got tearful: “I don’t see those staying in camps here as refugees, I see them as Tamils…the amenities available to Tamils living in the state should be made available to those living in the camps too.” Please note that he said Tamils, not citizens, so clearly he's got an eye on the assembly elections. 

Also note that camp denizens had conducted agitations over a period of time, but politicians in TN were looking only at Tamils in Sri Lanka hoping to reap an electoral harvest. There was even a hunger fast at Chenglepattu camp recently by inmates protesting they were languishing without a trial. But no one listened.

Strangely, although some of the refugees have been here for over 25 years, none of the reports about their plight reached Karunanidhi although he’s into his fifth term as CM. Does that mean he’s a prisoner of the bureaucrats and police who did not do their duty by the refugees? Or are DMK party leaders callous like the Karnataka MLAs who lived in luxury at five star resorts in Goa and Hyderabad when they should have rolled up their sleeves to work and pay back the rain-affected people who voted for them? AIADMK’s Jayalalitha has mercifully restrained herself from criticizing Karunanidhi – her preoccupation is with the politics of Mullaiperiyar dam and targeting Union Minister for IT and Communications Raja on the Spectrum scam – because she is culpable too having had two terms as CM since 1991.

PMK’s Ramadoss, who is freelance having left the AIADMK front recently, has also joined in the refugee politics:  “Compared to Tamil refugees, Tibetan refugees live with more freedom and in a much healthier environment.” The Dalai Lama might not agree, considering China’s objection to him visiting Arunachal Pradesh...

A cop-out
About eight months after the free-for-all at the Madras high court complex between agitating lawyers and police, the court has ordered disciplinary action and contempt of court proceedings against four IPS officers including the then Chennai police commissioner K Radhakrishnan, the then additional commissioner A K Viswanathan, the then JCP (north) M Ramasubramani and the then DCP (Flower Bazaar) Prem Anand Sinha. “To ensure fair and unbiased proceedings, it is for the government to place these officers under suspension,” said the bench comprising Justices FM Ibrahim Kalifulla and R Banumathi. The four cops are planning to appeal in the Supreme Court.

But the CM apparently chose not to take the court’s suggestion and AIADMK’s Jayalalitha is asking why. In a case like this where the government has to take sides between cops and lawyers, there is no contest on whose side a politician, who gets “his” cops in place to carry out his agenda, will take. But Karunanidhi chose to let the cops, who are down in the dumps, know where his sympathies lie not too subtly. In his avatar as DMK chief he wrote a letter to the party cadre, a couple of days after the high court ruling, saying, “During the last three years (since his current government came to power), crime detection has gone up and so has the recovery (in theft cases) rate in the state. The police have been ceaselessly fighting against criminals and anti-social elements to guarantee protection to the public.”

Karunanidhi, who holds the home portfolio, went so far as to say that the police should not be judged by “isolated incidents” that would put a “black mark” on their career. “This would not only make them hesitant to perform but also turn into a societal issue,” he said.

He claimed that his views would be the same if he was in the opposition. “The police face several challenges. They risk their lives to maintain law and order and maintain peace. We should commend them for this,” he said.

All true really. But politicians should take the blame for the state of the police. And in fact, politicians should also be blamed for lawyers holding the courts to ransom and indulging in protests. The free-for-all on February 19 was the culmination of weeks of agitation by a section of militant lawyers airing their pro-Tamil (read LTTE) views that finally led to excesses by the police including a lathicharge and vandalism of court property. It should also be said that the same lawyers refused to come back to work for over a month demanding action against the cops despite pleas by judges that litigants were suffering.

And for those who think only cops are feared, lawyers are even more feared. A rookie lawyer says even running a stop sign has no consequences because once the lawyer card is played, cops back off. 

A Love Letter...
And if Karunanidhi was hoping for supportive cops with the assembly elections 18 months away, he’s got it dude. His letter to the party cadre was like manna from heaven for the police force who were feeling kicked in the solar plexus by the courts. Word went around police stations that Karunanidhi’s letter should be displayed prominently. “We see his statement as a morale booster. He indirectly told us that he was aware that we are doing a good job. And we wanted all police personnel to know what the CM feels.”

Karunanidhi has flirted with the courts before – on the Sethusamudram project and recently on the Mullaiperiyar project. In the first case he converted the state-wide bandh he had called into a public meeting – after hurrying to the secretariat to clear files – when word came in that the Supreme Court did not take kindly to his defiance. On the Mullaiperiyar issue, he shelved the public meeting (although he claimed he was postponing it) altogether. He did not want to make an enemy of the UPA - his initial idea was to condemn Jairam Ramesh for clearing a survey for a new Mullaperiyar dam – at a time when union minister for telecomunications A Raja is this close to falling into the CBI net for his alleged involvement in the Spectrum scam. Besides, after Sethusamudram he did not want to be seen defying the court which is hearing Kerala’s and TN’s case on the Mullaiperiyar issue.

The real McCoy?
Autorickshaw drivers in any city fear to fall foul of the police. But in Chennai, cops must be auto drivers’ best friend because many actually own them and also because for at least 15 years, meters in autorickshaws are showpieces, if they exist at all. It’s all about bargaining (a ten kilometer distance could be between Rs 110-150) and hapless citizens have no choice but to opt for the cheaper “share” autos, which, incidentally, have hit auto drivers where it hurts the most – in their wallets. Not that share autos are angels and follow rules, they drive in non-designated areas. But since “mamools” are effective communicators, cops are over the moon , autorickshaw drivers are happy and only citizens get penalised.

So, it was little wonder that Palani Kumar, an autorickshaw driver from Annanagar spent Rs 1400 of his own money to print 150 posters in support of the police after the high court judgement. The poster claims, “Politicians, actors, media and advocates get preferential treatment; while the public and police, who protect everyone round the clock, face injustice.” A tad incorrect, because I’ve yet to see a cop paying a bill in a restaurant.

But Palani may have printed posters to get his 15 minutes of fame (as proved by this column), to get on the police’ right side or a concerned citizen who speaks out when he sees injustice. He says he had got the posters printed when exercised over another issue while in Madurai, but no one noticed. “I follow news regularly by reading at least three Tamil dailies. I was saddened by the court’s verdict and wanted to express my anguish.”

So he was never wronged by a cop? He had a string of bitter encounters but claimed he was looking at the bigger picture which was that politicians, actors and the media thumb their nose at rules and get away.

So, he’s a rare auto driver who uses his meter, right? Wrong! “Nobody asks me to, they (customers) just prefer flat rates and I oblige.” Is he for real?

Walk, don’t play on the beach
Cops have turned out to be villains for youngsters wanting to play cricket at the Marina.. Although the decision to ban cricket- playing on the beach was taken by the corporation, cops – the enforcers – became the bad guys. Even the 228 playgrounds offered by the authorities have not mollified the youngsters mostly because the parks do not lend themselves to playing cricket. If more than one team comes, then it’s out of the question. Some parks have trucks parked in them, some are garbage dumps, some have anti-social activity happening there. Besides, the Marina was preferred because many of the parks they played cricket at got taken over for building construction. Chennai Corporation commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni says, “If there is construction debris on any ground it will removed once work is over.” But this is yet another example of a generation gap. It’s the walkers (mostly middle/old aged with a wide reach to the powers) who first complained to the Chennai Police Commissioner provoking the ban. At an Annanagar ground where yoga happens, the senior citizens often have words with youngsters playing tennis. The older ones want peace and quiet and the young ones are loud and boisterous and that’s where the problem arises.