Thursday, June 24, 2010

Tamil Conference

No vegetable is available for less than Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 per kg in Tamil Nadu. Rice in rice producing state is selling at Rs. 40 per kg. Once power-surplus state, Tamil Nadu is on load-shedding spree officially. Farmers have been forced to abandon kuruvai cultivation due to lack of power. Mills and industries in Coimbatore and Tirupur are dying without sufficient support and lakhs have been rendered jobless. Water problem in Chennai has not been solved for the past 50 years. Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu are still stuck in caste wars. One need not have any illusion about condition of roads or public health or safety.

Rs. 400 crore of public money is being spent in organizing Tamil Conference in Coimbatore. The parties which have thrived and successfully managed to hold power using language and caste, are not relenting. The masses just don’t seem to wake up from slumber and realize that harping about language or linguistic mega shows will not end starvation or joblessness or discrimination.

Tamil has lived for the past two thousand years without these parties which have sprouted in the past few decades. And with these parties, Tamil will have the same future as that of Tamils. It cannot be anything different. The whole show is just to divert attention of the suffering millions. And when it comes to political parties, sucess is guaranteed. How else one can explain the rationale behind giving TV sets to all households when crops wilt, children are half-naked and under-fed and labour is out on the streets without jobs? For ages, real issues are deliberately obscured by rulers. Tamil Conference serves this purpose in no small measure.- GK

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