'La Belle Dame Sans Merci'

PSEPHOLOGY had the stuffing knocked out of it. The redoubtable editor of Frontline, N. Ram, was hectored and pilloried. All of us pseudo-astrologers with our gratuitous election predictions scraped mud off our face. And the prematurely puffed-up Atalji appeared deflated into a Sisyphean emblem of despair as he staggered out of Rashtrapati Bhavan, minus the AIADMK's letter-of-support. For three hectic days, last week, Ms Jayalalitha turned the political spotlight entirely on Tamil Nadu. The nation watched incredulously as the super-patriarchs of the BJP looked like they had swallowed their collective Adam's apple, as the Tamil matriarch's punches caught them somewhere between 'Moola-dhara' and 'Swadhishthana'. 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' from the south was back at doing what she knows best when pushed into a political corner—turning on her spontaneous histrionics and hamming her way through. Chennai-vasis are inured to this sight by now. For the rest of the nation it must have come as a culture shock. Also Ms Jayalalitha's 'achievements' are usually inversely proportional to the decibel level of her harangue. For all her pyrotechnics the AIADMK and allies tally of Cabinet and ministers of state from Tamil Nadu is six, while in the outgoing ministry, the DMK-TMC combine had nine. As for other (yawn) demands like Tamil as official language or 69 per cent reservations or Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar (yawn), the BJP has neutralised her effectively. Besides, the DMK is way ahead on all these departments. Why, they even have Mr Tamizhkudimagan as 'minister of Tamil as official language'. So, there!