The Volcker controversy was raging a few months after I wrote that. Natwar Singh was removed as India’s foreign minister. There arose a slanging match between Sonia Gandhi and Natwar Singh. Both had been identified in the Volcker report but only Natwar attracted flak and got the rap. People expected him to spill the beans.
He didn’t. Instead, we heard him nervously blurting: "Anything can happen against me and my family. I can be harmed. My house can be raided. My grandsons could be harmed. Anything could be planted and I could be sent to jail. Any intelligence agency may put something in my house, a file or a document, anything. I have been in the government. I know their tactics."
That was a cabinet minister speaking, just after quitting office. If he didn’t know how the government worked, who would? The media, with its characteristic restraint, completely ignored the import of that outburst. Well, subsequently, several politicians have accused their rivals of intent to murder. And in other incidents politicians, including even Union cabinet ministers, have been actually convicted for murder. Even so, this was confined until recently to the second rung of the political leadership.
Last week, the very top of the nation’s political leadership bared its fangs. Jayalalitha accused the Karunanidhi family of trying to murder her before the assembly elections, to pave the way for Karunanidhi’s son Stalin to become the chief minister. Apparently, an intruder passed through the security guards provided by the state machinery to enter her house. Jayalalitha disclosed a purported conversation between Karunanidhi and Stalin which allegedly indicated that she would be eliminated before the assembly polls.
First question: How did the intruder get through the police guards around Jayalalitha’s house? Second question: How did Jayalalitha know what Karunanidhi and Stalin said in a private conversation? Had she planted a mole deep in the Karunanidhi gang—sorry—group?I don’t know what you think, but seeing the way things are going, shouldn’t I put my money on Dawood’s becoming PM in 2009?
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
