Absolute power will render laws meaningless

It is obvious that the intoxication of absolute power is steadily taking control of the cerebrum of the ruling party. It has forced the opposition parties on the back foot by initiating innumerable litigations; threatened journalists by referring to them by their castes; chased away voters by indulging in rowdyism; put the fear of unknown into several with the threat of nationalisation; public meetings were hindered by using the pliant police… And the latest attack has been on the judiciary. Minister Arcot N Veeraswamy had launched a vile diatribe against judges during

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Q & A by Cho Ramaswamy

KGS Govindan, Krishnapuram Question: Ten IAS officers were appointed to oversee Chennai Corporation elections. Do you think that they ensured that free and fair polls were conducted? Answer: Their appointment was only an attempt to get one more certificate praising the government. T Ramakrishnan, Leepuram Question: Which political party, in your opinion, has been affected by the growth of DMDK? Answer: For the time being, it has affected the AIADMK mainly due to Jayalalithaa\’s decision to keep away from the Chennai Corporation polls.

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Indifferent difference

The Bharatiya Janata Party is an outfit with a difference. All political parties sweat to find out ways and means to augment their growth. But the BJP searches for methods to denude its avenues for progress and insists on treading that path. It has done that again for yet another time now. Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister has been removed from the BJP\’s Parliamentary Board and its election committee for reasons that haven\’t been disclosed. While The Hindu has said in an editorial that Modi is the blue-eyed boy of the

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Q & A by Cho Ramaswamy

K Sampath, Thirukkazhukkunram Question: Has Karunanidhi finally begun believing in religion? Answer: Kalaignar\’s rationalism has always been weak. He has often rued his fate, horoscope and stars in the past. So his rationalism has been a question mark for ages. Therefore instead of believing that he has become a believer, one needs to only comprehend the fact that he has begun flaunting his beliefs. P Shivashakti, Pachaiyapuram Question: \”Cho\’s single point agenda is bringing down the DMK government. But we also hope to create a good government

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A Dangerous Trend

The Governor of Tamil Nadu has read out a statement prepared by the government demanding, \”the Constitution should be freshly written according to the needs arising out of changing times.\”The reasons trotted out by the government for this were also clarified in the Governor\’s address. The government said that it is doing a tightrope walk while \”protecting the causes of social justice (in other words – reservation) for minorities and women\’s rights.\” Apart from altering the statute\’s status quo, the new Constitution will \”establish the principles of federalism, meaningfully devolve powers vested with the

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Q & A by Cho Ramaswamy

A Mukundan, Palayamkottai

Question: What will be the opinion of our political leaders, who undertake fasts under various pretexts from time to time, about Mamta Bannerjee\’s 25-day long hunger strike?

Answer: Our politicians never fast for a whole day. Every one of such efforts of the politicians lasts for a mere 12 hours. Therefore they would be sympathetic towards Mamta Bannerjee. \”She has wasted an effort that would have served the cause of 50 demonstrations. What kind of political knowledge does she have?\” would be the refrain of our politicians.

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Kudos to Karunanidhi

DMK President and Chief Minister Karunanidhi\’s ordering 99 Chennai Corporation Councillors to resign – and getting them to comply is no mean feat. Following the misdemeanours of the ruling party during the [October 2006] Corporation polls the Madras High Court failed to give a final ruling in a litigation that was its consequence. One judge on the Division Bench constituted to hear the case (Justice Mukhopadhyaya) said that the court could not interfere as per the clauses in the Constitution. Another judge (Justice Khalifulla) severely criticised the state election commission and the police. He

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Q & A by Cho Ramaswamy

KG Dhanalakshmi, Maraimalainagar Question: Tamil Nadu\’s total reservation of 69% and 27% reservation for Backward Class students in matters of higher education will not be affected in any manner by the Supreme Court\’s recent ruling, says Veerappa Moily. How true is this statement? Answer: It is a half-truth. Temporarily the reservation regime is not affected. But it can be reviewed by the courts and nobody can predict what would be the end result. What was beyond judicial review is now subject to it. On that count, Moily\’s averment is wrong.

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