M. Karunanidhi announced Rs 1 crore to SIAA for debt remittance in 1997
Pamaram
The media has to be blamed for this hullabaloo. Did the Nadigar Sangam (South Indian Artists Association) election effect a change in the UNHRC resolution tabled against Colombo recently? Or did it in any way im-prove the life of the people in Eelam or Tamil Nadu?
Have TN people started receiving ration products at doorstep or did the election end peoples water woes at least? Nothing. Then, why this fuss… It is after all their association election. Who are they? People who have built a reputation for not paying taxes properly? If I may borrow the words of veteran actor late M.R. Radha, they are koothadi (actors). That is not all. You (actors) did not repay you association's debt even.
Then chief minister M. Karunanidhi announced Rs 1 crore to SIAA for debt remittance in 1997. That was when I wrote an article in Kumudham questioning it. Karunanidhi put his decision on hold. They had even approached the Centre through G.K. Moppanar to get the remaining debt waived. Actor Radha Ravi, in an interview to the media, accused me of playing spoilsport to their plans.
Unknowingly, I had done something good to the people then. I had also played my part in preventing the government from contributing to their debt. Will the banks and governments give the same concession to a farmer who struggles to repay his crop loan or pay his electricity bill? Will the government not seize the cattle or pull the plug in a few days? Why this concession to actors alone? What do they contribute to the society to deserve this extraordinary treatment and concession?
If the actors imagine that the mad public following for SIAA election, which was thrust on them by the media, will help them politically in future, they are seriously mistaken. If they dream of filing an application in Kodambakkam for a berth in Fort St George, they will only end up disappointed. It happened to the actor Sivaji Ganesan even. He was a celebrated actor, but when he contested in MLA election, people snubbed him. If the media and actors imagine that the people will accept cine stars as leaders, they will only end up as fools.
People of TN are being underestimated. There are so many pressing problems in the state, which have been ignored by the media as well as these actors. This election is nothing but a farce, which the media overplayed and which entertained the people for a brief time.
(The author is a Tamil writer, columnist and political commentator) As told to K. Karthikeyan
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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