"I'm sick," moaned Rajkumar.
"He may get a heart attack," said Dr Bhanu.
"Take him home!" said Veerappan.
That was the first version. People thought: how could somebody so stupid kill a hundredpeople? Later, they thought: how could somebody who killed a hundred people be so stupid?Was a huge ransom paid?
Next day, Rajkumar changed his version. Dr Bhanu did likewise. Nedumaran denied thatRajkumar said what a hundred media persons heard him say.
Nedumaran said that he had never met Veerappan earlier. He said that Veerappan was theproduct of an unjust environment. He said that the police and the politicians were worse.He said that tada prisoners should be released because they were victims of policebrutality. He said that neither Veerappan nor he would contest elections. He said that theltte had no hand in the rescue mission.
Nedumaran may be right about the police and the politicians. Does that exonerateVeerappan? Isn't he part of the nexus between crime and politics? Nedumaran mayreally shun elections and seek freedom for his people. But that freedom will not come fromabetting the mafia. That freedom will not come from winning sovereignty. It will come fromwinning democracy. Indian democracy is subverted everywhere. Dawood financed Bollywood.Did Veerappan finance Mollywood?
Despite the subversion, we still have two freedoms. We have freedom of expression andfreedom of association. We can propagate and organise. If even then we cannot removethrough elections the rogues who rule us, we have only ourselves to blame.
What did really happen in this crisis? Everyone concerned seemed to be reading from aprepared script. The father of Veerappan's slain victim intervened. He appealed tothe Supreme Court. The court called the mafia's bluff. The plot collapsed. Rajkumarwas released. Now the script is being rewritten.
At the very beginning of this crisis, this column had described it as one of nationalsecurity. Events have reinforced that assessment.
According to Article 356 ofthe Constitution, the President may "assume to himselfall or any of the functions of the government of the state". Without disturbing thestate governments otherwise, the central government can take over law and order in the twostates till governance is restored. It should act before it is too late.
Was he acting yesterday,
Or does he act today?
Should we believe what he says,
Or does he act always?
