knowledge has no horizons

Liberhan commission’s prolonged probe into the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the submission of the report to theCentre in the last June after for about 17 years, its subsequent leak of certain parts of the report in certain newspaper, and the government’s hurriedly tabling of the report in the two houses of the parliament yesterday are sure to hook a common man with several questions.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid is not just a matter of common concern, but of communal concern and interest. Communal concern in a country like India is more a matter of serious concern than the common concern. It is said that delayed justice is denied justice. Any commission that is set in the interest of the nation should not prolong the probe for years, as Liberhan committee did. Imagine the years that the Liberhan took to conclude in its report the culprits whom the nation knows well. Here, one may seek after excuses, saying the ATR (Action Taken Report) being framed might be the cause for the delay of the committee. But who answers the statement released today that [t]he Action Taken Report…is weak and inadequate. It displays a lack of political will to bring those responsible to justice.”

One is forced to think that congress plays its usual role of pinching the child and rocking the cradle. A common man with a good memory can remember that Narasima Rao-led Congress government was in the power at the time of demolition of the Masjid. What were the steps that it took to prevent demolishing it? When the Centre has the power of implementing President’s rule or other means, like the use of military force, in any state that is acting against the interest or security of the nation, what forced the Congress government to remain silent in the matters of Ayodhya? What about the Operation Blue Star ordered by Indira Gandhi in the Golden Temple in Amristar, and why is it?

If the state is to be blamed for making the black-marked event happen, the Centre too is to be blamed for allowing it happen. Mere logic is enough to conclude that in a state where the BJP was in power and which organized the rally, promising the apex court not to harm the mosque, possibilities are there for violence. We can’t go to the extent of calling the demolishment a collusion of BJP and Congress for the sake of meeting their political ends, as the present chief minister of UP, Mayawathi, claims. The accusation from the Left parties – “In spite of the repeated requests made by senior political leaders in the secular opposition at that time and the unanimous resolution of the National Integration Council asking the (P.V.) Narsimha Rao Government to take all measures to protect the Babri Masjid, it showed itself to be weak and vacillating in the face of the communal offensive” – can’t just be ignored and gains momentum at a time where BJP alone is brought to the front as scapegoat.

The Liberhan committee handed over the report of their probe to the Centre in the month of June. But the report was not put on the table for public and political view and discussion till the days before. If the aim of the government is to present the report on the Winter Session of the Parliament, why it did not table on the first day of the session itself? While the home minister Chidambaram claims to have only one copy of the report in his ministry and Justice Liberhan assures of not divulging anything in his report to anybody, who then holds the responsibility of releasing the part of the report to the media? Whether the government intended to prove itself to be incapable of safeguarding even a report. Publishing a part of the report in a daily and the subsequent submission in both Houses at a time when the opposition parties, particularly BJP, expected to exasperate the Congress with issues of sugarcane price, hawala of Madhu Koda whom Congress backed, spectrum scam may tend one to think that the congress might take it to put an end to uproars in the Houses (as it made the DMK supremo to be silent on the matter of Mullaiperiyar dam issue, with a CBI raid in his party minister’s office).

What goes in the nation with particular reference to the Liberhan report leaves little to the observers and people alike. Perhaps, God only knows, and is sure, next to him, the Congress.

(I intend in this essay not to classify the internal divisions of scheduled castes as Paraiyar and Arunthathiyar; instead, I desire to put the general term “Dalits”.)

Three women are raped everyday; thirteen are killed every week; six are kidnapped or abducted every week; five homes or possessions are burnt every week – thus goes the survey of NCDHR – and all this is because they are born dalits and of dalits. What is there being born so? Of course, India has recorded in the past and is recording in the present innumerable incidents of inequality. While the Indian sub-continent boasts of its “unity in diversity”, it is now time to question the “thought” itself that every Indian tends to take pride in.

This essay confines itself in discussing about a race that is called “Harijan” in Gandhian term, “Scheduled caste” in English term, “Dalits” in Tamilian term. This is about a race that formed the 17 percent of the total population of India in the 2001 census. This is about a race that is kept on neglecting in either of the scenarios – political, educational, professional. This is about a race that is viewed with visceral dislike of and is made to dance to the tunes of the upper-caste hindus and is puppets in the hands of politicians.

“If untouchability continues to exist in India, it is sure to lead only for its destruction”, cursed Mahatma Gandhi, who viewed harijans as gods. Forget the Gandhian view on them. After all, they are human beings.

India has registered various embarrassing incidents targeting datits, and Tamil Nadu has always been the place of violence against them. Although there exist several acts (!) to protect them, it is excruciating to know that they continue to be targets of assaults and are victimized for longer. Which section of Indian Penal Code prevents a dalit taking part in a land auction? Of course, it is a cognizable offence, according to the upper-caste hindus’ codes, and death is the punishment for this in their courts. Sennakarampatty is such a village in Madurai district, Tamil Nadu, that executed such sentence. Four of the dalits belonging to Sennakarampatty that took part in the land auction were brutally murdered on their way to their homes in July 1992. The village witnessed yet another massacre of two dalits – Velu and Ammasi –who were dragged from the bus to be beheaded.

Madurai, notoriously earned fame of being the biggest village in India, has been a place of concern and was known for its law-and-order problems, until recently. Who can erase from their memory the agonizing incidence of brutally butchering the seven people – Murugesan and others – traveling in a bus, simply for the reason Murugesan contested elections and won in the neighbouring village of Sennakarampatty, Melavalavu, in june, 1997. Political powers are fated to particular castes?

Thinniyam, a village in Trichy district, staged a yet another embarrassing scene. A dalit named Karuppaih along with two other dalits Ramasamy and Murugesan was branded with a hot iron and made to eat human faeces for asking to reiterate the money. One can’t turn a deaf ear to this as it was staged by a woman, who was the president village at that time, and by her husband.

How cruel it is for Dalits to live in a society in which even bringing up a dog was prevented by the upper-caste Hindus, and this is because they might have contact with their dogs resulting in mixed breeding. This atrocity goes up at its height in Velayathapuram, a village in Tuticorin of Tamil Nadu. A dalit named Mariappan was refused marriage hall in Erode district; those that opposed the dual tumbler system in Udumalaipet were beaten; and the list goes.

I remember reading Rousseau’s Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains. But in the case of Dalits in India, he is made from his birth to bear the stamp of untouchable until his death.

No longer women are maids in the halls, cooks in the kitchens, and whores in beds. Nor are they considered to be the bringers of pain into the world. Forget about the Bible tale!

Women are making their marks in all the fields, which were once thought to be unfit for them, either in the field of politics, or in astronomy, or in literature, or in the lucrative field of information technology. The world has witnessed and is witnessing women ruling the countries and states efficiently. In India, Indira Gandhi, called the ‘iron lady’, ruled the country without a rival – albeit for a span of years. In the state level, many achieved fame to their names and are now deciding the destiny of governments. Jeyalalitha adorned the chair of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 10 years, Mayawathi and Sudesha kirubalani – the latter having the credit of being the first woman chief minister of an Indian state – the chair of Uttar Pradesh; Rabri Devi, the chair of Bihar; Parvathi, the chair of Andra Pradesh. Apart from women being PM and CMs, many have entered the local politics and managed to win to become Mayors and councilors. India ecstasied with nominating a woman – Pratiba Patil – to the top of post of the Indian sovereignty and Meera Kumar to the chair of Parliamentary speaker.

Coming out of the confinement of politics in India, we can also see many to set their feet in it and succeeded becoming the supreme leaders of their states. Countries surrounding the Indian sub-continent always honoured women with high posts. Sirimavo Bandaranaike registered herself in the Sri Lankan as well as the world political history as the first woman prime minister. Who forget Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge of Sri Lanka, Sheik Hasina of Bangladesh and Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar?

Many unprecedented changes have occurred in their lives in the recent decades. Women, once thought to be fit only for kitchens, prove now equal to men and to be as efficient as their male counterparts to earn for themselves livelihood. It is explicit and evident from what we are seeing everyday that they, standing o their own legs, gained good positions in the society, not expecting their men for their survival. It is welcoming that the percentage of women working is exponentially grown in the few decades. Many have added laurels to their heads as successful entrepreneurs and have achieved fame as the supreme heads of organizations, like the Chennai-born Indra Nooyi to become the CEO of PepsiCo.

Women’s participation in the field of science and technology is also of paramount importance. Their explorations and attempts of exploring of what is above and under the earth proved significant. Kalpana Chawla claimed the credit of being the first women to make space voyage. Also, the domination of women in the field of literature becomes an often-felt one. Three women – Elfriede Jelinek of Poland, Doris Lessing of Britain and Herta Müller of Germany – are in the row of Nobel Prize winners for literature within a decade.

It is no hyperbolic to say that 2009 is year for women, as, for the first time in the history of Nobel Prize, five women are awarded the Nobel Prize. Beating the record of 2004 when three women got Nobel Prize, all the five made their marks. Marie Curie started the count in 1903 winning the prize for physics, and from then onwards, 40 women have registered their names for 41 times in the Nobel records. It is perspicuous from the fact that women’s dominance is on the fields of literature and peace, in which they were awarded 12 times each, respectively. This year is noteworthy for women for yet another reason. Right from the year of inception of the prize for Economics in 1969, Elinor Ostrom is the first to get it. Of course, women folk have all rights to take pride in this.

Now, read the beginning paragraph of the essay.

Days passed by after the TN MPs “insisted” on the Centre allowing them to visit war-ridden Sri Lanka and to study the situations and conditions of the Tamils in relief camps, who are living as refugees in their own homeland, and things are now going good for the DMK supremo, Karunanidhi, to stage a different drama to prove him the ever only leader of Tamils across the world. Yes, a team of TN MPs started their journey to Sri Lanka this afternoon. The team comprises MPs from Congress that gave weapons to root out Tamils, from DMK that backed and is backing Congress in the centre, and VCK leader Thirumavalavan, who found the nerve to swear to pluck the congress to its roots from the Tamil soil. Find it rib-tickling!

“The MPs' delegation is in response to the invitation extended by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to visit his country and see the relief operations”, said Natchiappan. He continued: “Our primary focus is to see how the internally displaced people are being maintained in the special camps in Sri Lanka and how the aid is being distributed to them”. The head of the team of Tamil MPs headed to Sri Lanka asserts, "The chief minister instead decided to depute a team of MPs of the ruling alliance on his behalf to have first hand information on the conditions prevailing there."

Now, it is time to turn to be serious to ask certain questions that are expected not to be evaded. Colombo announced that the war against the LTTEs ended in the month of May, and the war-affected Tamils are housed in relief camps from the time then. A lot of news is coming on the way that the Tamils in the relief are not provided with basic amenities like sanitation, food and others, and even things sent to them on humanitarian measures failed to reach them. What happened to Vanangaman, humanitarian ship carrying consignment of food, medicine, medical teams and other essential items to the suffering Tamils? In a petition filed in the Sri Lankan Supreme Court by the NGO Centre for Changed Principles, it painfully pointed out that 30 among the Tamils died of lack of nutrition, and around 3,00,000 Tamils housed in the so-called 40 relief camps are subjected to torment by the Lankan army (Watch Video). This happened in the month of June (Click to read). The news of worse and deteriorating condition of Tamils keep flowing even at and after the war. It is worth noting here the statement of US minister for External Affairs, Hilary, who accused Sri Lanka of using rape as a weapon in the fight against the LTTEs (Click here to read). Hats off to the State and Centre for arranging such an earlier visit to study their conditions!!!!

T.R.Balu, the head of the team of MPs, says we are not getting any information regarding our visit from the sri Lankan government side, whereas the State Congress leader Thangabalu claims, which Natchiappan reaffirms later, that a letter from the Lankan president has reached the TN CM, asking him to send a team of MPs from TN to study the situations in the relief camps (Dinamalar). Why is this contradictions and why the letter sent to karunanidhi rather than to Manmohan Singh?.

The team is visiting Lanka as a representative of State or Centre? If representing the Centre, why should they give report to Karunanidhi and through him to Manmohan Singh? T.R.Baalu is of the opinion that “[t]he chief minister instead decided to depute a team of MPs of the ruling alliance on his behalf to have first hand information on the conditions prevailing there.” When is the external ministry coming in the concurrent list? And why was the Sri Lankan president writing to him instead to Manmohan? How can one expect a detailed and true from the team, as it does not consist of MPs from oppositon parties, at least from the state level? MPs from AIADMK, Communists and MDMK were not the sons of Tamil soil and are strangers to Tamils there in Sri Lanka?

The statement of Karunanidhi at the time of asking to pressurize the Centre to stop Lanka killing Tamils still lingers in Tamil minds. A sovereign country cannot interfere into the matters of another sovereign country, he said. But, now, he is sending a team, just for political stunt. The five-day visit will be for dining with Rajapaksa, and the team eventually concludes: “the condition is satisfactory”.

Star always seems to favour Obama, whether it is the presidential election or Nobel committee’s selection. The charismatic leader of USA is able to catch up the view not only of his people, but the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Of the 205 total nominations – that include 172 individuals and 33 organizations – for the prize for this year, the young Obama emerged the victor of winning the prize. The third man sitting on the American presidential chair to win the prize after Roosevelt in 1906 and Wilson in 1919 and the fourth of 44 US presidents, Obama is of course eligible to be rewarded with – but too earlier to be awarded.

Having gone into the history of whats, whens and wheres of the Nobel Prize will be a real waste of time, whereas prize for peace has something special and worth knowing. Peace for prize, unlike others that are given by Swedish institutions, is to be given by selected committee elected by the Norwegian parliament to a man who, Nobel himself states in 1895 Will, “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses”.

The prize comes as recognition of his vision of a world without nuclear weapons. The committee honours this man for instilling in people “hope for a better future” and for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”. The Norwegian committee didn’t forget to point out his outreach to the Muslim world. He is a man of his words and his pledge to withdraw the US troops from Iraq in the presidential election campaign is gradually getting realized.

The committee’s choice of him as the winner of Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is also left room for debates among observers of Nobel prize. The point that they seek to pinpoint is that Obama took office less than two weeks before the February 1 nomination deadline. That the committee comes with clarifications of its choice or simply leaves it to time to answer is left to time itself.

People live fearlessly because of fear of law, and law does its duty because of fear of Press. The so-called fourth pillar of democracy is broken with the arrest of the news editor of Dinamalar, Lenin, and it is absolutely an act of strangling the freedom of press. No doubt, Dinamalar has earned a good name among the people for pointing out whatever that goes against the people.

Bhuvaneswari, an actress, was arrested for involving in flesh trade along with two others at her home at Adyar on Saturday. The police found themselves shocked to see a photo a political big name hanging in the house, yet they continued with their action. While the boldness and sagacity of TN police was saluted, something is left to them to be answered. Dailies like Daily Thanthi and news site like thatstamil have all alike pointed out that Bhuvaneswari threatened the TN police with the list of actress that involve in the flesh trade, to take actions against them. But the questions that a man belonging to common folk seeks to clarify are: what happened to the list of Bhuvaneswari about those involved in flesh trade? What are the actions that the TN police have taken against them? What made the TN police rush action against the Dinamalar news editor?

I am not here supporting Dinamalar publishing of the news with photos of actress that are thought to be involving in the flesh trade without confirming from the authorized state agencies. The arrest coming at the time of actors’ union staging a protest demanding actions assumed added significance. What does the government of Tamil Nadu really intend to do? If the arrest came as a response to the ferocity of the actors’ union and the so-called actresses whose images were thought to be torn after the news in Dinamalar, what is the response for Bhuvaneswari publicly challenging the police to arrest others? Do the Police have their ready-made answers that “we are setting traps” and “we will catch them soon”, as usual?

Media is not just a matter of publishing news. It itself is police without uniforms. It plays a vital role in state and nation architecture and helps reducing crimes. And the part of it can’t just be arrested for someone’s protest. If anything related to media comes under criticism should be solved through Judiciary.

"I have travelled across the length and breath of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation".

And thanks for those that (try and) continue in all the ways to break the very backbone of this nation (click on http://dhanabalakrishnan.blogspot.com/2008/03/not-for-nothing-is-culture-good-thing.html)

Can you imagine a Tamil movie without a heroine, duet songs with her in foreign countries changing the dresses and locations? Unnaippol Oruvan hit the screens against audience’s imagination on 18, September. A remake of Hindi film The Wednesday, the movie is yet another hit for Kamal Haasan after Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu and Dasavatharam, but this time with a message – terrorism is the only means of getting rid of terrorism.

Impossible is written in the dictionary of fools. Probably Kamal Haasan might believe in that. He enables to shoot the full film in an open-space construction-stopped building and in a confined commissioner office, not allowing many more outdoor shootings from the beginning to the end. A not-more-than-two hour film, it starts as a flashback of Mohan Lal, standing in the beach. Kamal Haasan claims to have set bombs in the important parts of the city and threatens to blast them, if his demand of releasing the four terrorists involved in coimbatore blasting and others is given a deaf ear. It is the concern of the concerned. Mohan Lal is the concerned and asks for assistance from the home secretary – Lakshmi – who is given full power to decide on the situation by the CM, who in turn to the commissioner Mohan Lal. Mohan Lal found no other go rather than yielding to Kamal Haasan’s demands, while trying to trace the location of the place where Kamal Haasan executes his plans over the phone. Four were released and three boarded in a jeep. To the surprise of Mohan Lal came the explosion of the jeep, and then the fourth to be shot dead. The question ‘Why’ is the rest of the story.

Mohan Lal’s interaction, and sometimes altercations, with Lakshmi pictures the top-level tensions in a perspicuous manner over such issues. Ganesh Venkat Ram and Bharat Reddy ask for applause. Voice of the Tamil Nadu CM dubbed and showing Lakshmi getting in the car from the house of the CM add originality to the film. The cigarette smoking lady reporter and IIT drop out deserve praise here.

Kamal Haasan puts forth a concept of terrorism as a means to root out the terrorism. He points his finger at all the existing criteria in the nation for punishing criminals and terrorists. He seeks to clarify a number of logical questions in the films and makes the audience eventually expect his questions not to be evaded.

Sreeman’s visit to the commissioner office seeking z security from Mohan Lal and certain other scenes – though have no connection with the main story – enable to get a clear glimpse of the character of Mohan Lal in the very beginning. Hats off to the dialogue writer – Ra. Murugan – for his writing such dialogues that flow naturally between the scenes. He made sure to add satirical elements that obviously fulfill the intentions, while, at the same time, ensuring the audience laugh at them.

Shruti Haasan made her debut as music director; as this is her maiden attempt, any shortfalls in the film related to music can simply be excused for this reason. Manoj Soni’s camera thrills the viewers with movements. Rameshwar Bhagawat’s editing makes the feel of enjoying a complete film.

Kamal Haasan again seems to suffer the fate of the hero belonging to A-centre people. Of course, it is pathetic to note that the common man – Kamal Haasan used to refer himself – fails to reach the common men. It is undoubtedly a good film, but reaching the ‘A’ centre as usual of most of his films. Kamal Haasan might have concentrated on the minimum usage of English conversation between characters, but not with the cost of reality.

In short, nothing to be mentioned on the negative side. A good film worth watching it. DON’T MISS IT.

“United we stand; divided we fall” will probably be the apt adage for the BJP at present. Being the main opposition party in India that challenged the century-old Congress right from its inception in 1980, it now suffers a lot from internal bickering and infightings within the party. Despite the fact that it was just a 3-years-old political party when it faced the parliamentary election in 1984, it could send two members to represent it in parliament. The 1989 election came as an astounding surprise for the national parties as it reaped a good number of 89 seats, and in 1991 with yet another astonishing win securing 121 seats, it had all reasons to believe to win the people’s mandates to form government in the centre. It came true in the 1996 elections, Atal Bihari Vaypayee being the prime minister.

What went in the past was good for the BJP and what was thought only for the sake of it. Vajpayee going out of the active political scene, things in BJP started to turn upside down. Internal bickering and infighting began to sprout in all of its forms from all the sides. They are not started with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh on August 19 from the party, as one may think, for extolling Jinnah in his book. It had it roots even before the parliamentary election over the context of next prime ministerial candidate. Albeit Advani being announced the official candidate to the chair of prime minister – Advani is, of course and obviously, the senior-most leader in BJP after Vaypayee – there were shouts among the party itself for Narendra Modi to be announced the apt one. Veteran BJP leader and the former vice-president Shekhawat’s wish for the same post is, too, worth mentioning here. The public spat between the party leader, Rajnath Singh, and the party secretary, Arun Jaitley, have done enough harm to the party in the elections. What is pathetic is that the BJP let smother the animosities, albeit not outwardly, between them yet. (Reason for the BJP’s debacle in the election, click http://dhanabalakrishnan.blogspot.com/2009/05/congress-reaped-good-harvest-whereas.html)

A man who is committing a mistake and does not correct it is committing another mistake, and it is applicable to political parties, too. BJP lost enough in the elections simply by virtue of party infightings, along with some other causes. Instead of inquiring into the infightings that took place in pre-elections, it brought forth internal bickering anew and brought into the political fore. Rajasthan might be the place that BJP don’t want. Vasunthara Raje, Jaswant Singh and, now the ex-vice president Shekhawat are all in the row, causing squabbles and tussles in the party. Raje, the then chief minister of Rajasthan, was set the target of BJP’s first victim. Bidding her to step down from the position of opposition leader of Rajasthan assemble was to no avail. Her supporters thronged Advani’s house, demanding the party chief to withdraw from their stand. The party was on fire, which resulted in the suspension of two MLAs considered to be Raje’s loyalists.

The next fell a victim was the army general-turned CM of Uttarakhand, Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, who had to quit from his chair when the former chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshiyari bayed for his blood after BJP washed out in the state in the parliamentary election and resigned his Rajya Saba insisting on his resignation. Koshiyari’s demand was heard of and Khanduri stepped down.

That a figure of prominence falling a victim on the grounds of the party’s disciplinary action is the man who ornamented the NDA regime, serving as the External Minister and a Finance Minister for a while is Jaswant Singh. He might not have thought that writing a book eulogizing the Pakistan founder, Jinnah, would let in his political career drastic and adverse effects. Jaswant Singh is not Advani in the party, and this despite the fact, the latter’s visit to Pakistan and his consequent appreciating comments on Jinnah at his memorial asked for a lot of argle-bargle and altercations within the party and made him to be meekly submissive to the RSS. The party has got its guts for garters by expelling Singh out of the party for the same cause – praising Jinnah – now in a book.

The party infightings got a new shape when another senior leader and the former minister Arun Shourie called in an interview to the NDTV the BJP president Rajnath ‘Alice in blunderland’ and the party a ‘kite without a string’ after the expulsion of Jaswant Singh. Albeit ‘unexpected’ is the remark as BJP itself opined of his opinion, the remark came not without a reason. Shourie openly asked for change in the leadership level and pointed out that RSS should rebuild the party.

None might have thought that Kulkarni would turn against the party. His decision to step out the party comes on the grounds of ideological differences, though. It has had it roots from Jaswant’s book and the forthwith expulsion. He didn’t find himself disturbed to tell in his interview to the Times Now that ‘it is not proper for an individual to remain inside the party and express his views’ and assert Singh’s expulsion a ‘graceless’ action. He couldn’t find any difference in the remarks on Jinnah expressed by Advani and Jaswant Singh, he added.

Now it is the turn for the former vice-president Shekhawat to come to rescue for the expelled leader Jaswant Singh. "The way Jaswant was treated was not good. There is a need to praise his book," this came after the expelled leader called on him at his home, and this meeting happened on the pretext of inquiring Shekhawat’s health. He never failed to express his concern over the increasing indiscipline in the party and the fall in the standards.

Expulsion and suspension are coming at ease in BJP. The month of June witnessed the expulsion of Himachal Pradesh senior leader, Dulo Ram, on the grounds of allegedly indulging in anti-party activities. Suspension of the Delhi leader Lal Chand Mehraulia on disciplinary grounds led the Delhi BJP activists to urge their leaders to reinstate him.

It is natural for national parties to have infightings and internal bickering: Congress suffered from this a lot in the past and at present in certain states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala: One may not forget the same in the Left parties recently. But what the BJP should take to mind and remember is that is no use in expelling or suspending – simply on the disciplinary grounds – but sorting the causes of infightings out and rooting them out.

“Andhra Pradesh has lost an outstanding leader and the country has lost an ideal Chief Minister who was a role model for other States”, this panegyric came as a condolence message from the Prime Minister over the unexpected and instantaneous demise of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. Rajasekara Reddy. Of course, he is worth the note.

Born in a Christian family in 1949 in Pulivendula, a small town in Kadappa district to middle-class parents, he might have never thought of ruling the state. His unquenchable interest in politics brought him into active politics at the premature age of 27, and two years later took him to the AP legislative assembly as a young member. Of course, he was quick to grow a man of the masses in his state. His charismatic figure took him easily to the people, and being a practitioner he was good at feeling the pulse of them.

His electoral history has never ever experienced a setback. His successive wins in the Lok Saba elections from Kadapa constituency for four times and in the assembly elections from his home constituency Pulivendula for continuously six times earned him a good name among the top congress partymen. Added laurels to his head as MLA and MP, he also served his state as a minister holding important portfolios as Rural Development, Medical Health and Education, and served the party at the behest of Indira Gandhi as the President of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee from 1983 to 1985 just at the age of 34 and from 1998 to 2000. Registered his name as the first man in AP legislative history to enjoy full five-year term as the Chief Minister, he took party to a good win both in the legislative and parliamentary elections, gaining 156 out of 294 to form government under his head with absolute majority in his state and contributing 33 out of 42 from his state to form UPA coalition government in the Centre, respectively. Indeed, Congress has reason to consider him the mascot of the party.

Reddy was a man of his words; his challenge of throwing TDP out of power got realized with a tremendous win for the Congress party, gaining 185 seats in the 2004 election. His long around 1,500-kilometre padayatra (journey by foot) through almost all parts of Andhra Pradesh made him acquainted with people and their grievances, longings and expectations, which, one could opine, formulated the governance of his first five-year term in office. The 2009 election came to him as a test to prove his competence, as he had to face new rivalry – apart from the already-existing one from the TDP – from the newly emerged party of Chiranjeevi, and he proved it with a win. He differed from his rival, Naidu, by turning his eyes on the villages and farmers and did a lot for the development of them, like free electricity supply, health insurance scheme and construction of houses for rural masses, and others. Andhra hoped yet to receive from him many, but to their dismal comes the demise of him.

The prime ministerial posting is not a privilege of a few (or one family). Any political party was and is started with the aim of grasping power, either at regional or state or national level. While contesting the elections to seize the chair of Prime minister is a definitely democratic move, what is beyond reason and is of absolute absurdity is that everyone put themselves for the post that decides the destiny of the nation. Mayawati, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Deva Gowda and Jeyalalitha were, of course, in the queue, either directly or indirectly, in the 2009 elections.

Mayawati's dream came untrue

The election 2009, no doubt, came as a major shock and scattered Mayawati's dream of becoming the Prime Minister. The slogan "hui hamari, ab dilli ki baari" (We have captured Uttar Pradesh. Now will conquer Delhi) that she put forth in her election campaign proved eventually to be futile. Her party being the biggest national one in the Third Front next to the Left in terms of the seats in 2004 election and ruling the biggest state with the biggest share of seats to the Parliament, she calculated with the numbers, as she thought winning 50 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh alone and a few in other states like Madhya Pradesh, where her party has set its foot gaining a seat in this election, Delhi and Rajasthan might enable her to sit in the chair of Prime Minister. Her calculation is not without a reason, because India witnessed a Prime Minister with just 57 MPs for his party (Chandrasekhar). While the past is as this in India, something went wrong for Mayawati somewhere. Now let us look in nutshell in the 'whats' and 'wheres' that caused her dream of becoming the Prime Minister come untrue.

Her attempt to portray her party as a one that does not belong to any particular caste and to prove the concept of the party that is in the name itself (Bahujan, all people) did not work out in the Lok saba election, as it did in the Assembly election of 2007, in which it won a good number of seats to form the first single-party government in the state in 17 years. Her fielding of candidates from all communities - 20 Brahmins, 14 Muslims, Six Thakurs, Four Yadavs and Kurmis each, two Banias and Gujjars, one punjabi Kharti and Lodh each - failed to fulfill her expectations of winning enough seats in the 2009 elections. Nominating 17 Dalits only in the reserved constituencies might have invited the hostility within her own community. She might be wrong to miscalculate that she will get the Brahmins’ votes, which BJP ever claims when it comes to the question of ruling the nation. The formation of Ulema Council (UC) and the Peace Party of India (PPI) that back and are backed by minorities were on the field for sharing the Muslims's vote bank. As the case may be this, she would have prevented Muslim votes from falling to Samajwadi party by bringing Kalyan Singh to the fore, the then Chief Minister at the time of the demolition of Babrid Masjid. Instead of having focused on Varun Gandhi getting imprisoned under the national security Act and the consequent indulgence in the recrimination against Menaka Gandhi, Varun's mother, she would have found a talisman to make the Rahul Gandhi's magic ineffective, at least in her state.

None had the gut to field their candidate throughout India, not allying with other parties, except Mayawati. And of course, hats off to that courage. But the courage did not appeal to the common sense. Making alliances with other parties, at least in her neighbouring states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and others - in Madhya Pradesh, she got one for her share - she might have added a few more to her total numbers. Being a chief minister, she missed the chance of making votes by providing people with welfare schemes, which Congress party's Rajasekara Reddy in Andhra Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, Shiela Dixit in Delhi, BJP's Ediyurappa in Karnataka, JD (U)'s Nithish Kumar in Bihar and DMK's Karunanidhi in Tamilnadu did it with a greater success. Considering Mulayam being her primary rival, she unwittingly ignored the emergence of Congress in her own soil. It is mysterious and abstruse to understand her campaigns in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where, as one thinks, the party does not take firm roots yet. In short, she did a right thing at a wrong time, when it came to campaign. Lacking the star speakers or the 'star' speakers, the party continues to suffer its fate. Above all, building the state with welfare instead of erecting her statues and bust might have reason to appeal the voters, the deciders of destiny.

Lalu, left in the lurch

In the game of politics, Lalu Prasad Yadav was no longer on the field and was given 'out' by the umpires (people). His partnership with Ram Vilas Paswan eventually proved to be futile. Already having lost the state to Nithis Kumar, he lost his hold in the present UPA government, too. His insulting of congress by alloting just three seats left for congress no choice rather than contesting the election without alliance in the state. Despite the fact that the Congress derived only tow number of seats of the 37 it contested, none can deny that the congress answered back the RJD destroying Lalu's vote bank. His many 'offerings' to his state in the railway budget were spell-bound before the charismatic chief minister, Nithish Kumar. forming a fourth front in a state with just 40 MPs and longing to become the PM (which requires the majority of 273 MPs) was likely to kindle one to laugh (and it was for me). His partner Paswan asked for no Guinness record for garnering votes in the 2009, as his expectation of winning the election itself came as a shock to him and his party men. To speak in a nutshell, it's no use for Lalu and his partner to cry over the split milk.

Gone is Mulayam Singh

Mulayam Singh's silent move of ornamenting the Prime Ministerial chair has finally upset him with a lower number of seats in the 2009 election. countering the harsh retaliation of words of the BSP chief and its men and coming into conflict with the Congress just before the conduct of elections, when it came to sharing of seats, are not as that much easier ones ot find out solutions. Joining hand with Lalu, he insulted the Congress giving 19 seats in a state with the share 80 to the Parliament, and is now suffering. A protector of the previous UPA government from falling when the Left left the congress in the lurch on the issue of Nuclear Deal with the USA, he enjoyed the gratitude it has shown for him.

His Samajwadi Party is not without shortfalls as its opposite party, BSP, that might have better been avoided or eliminated entering the election scenario. Apart from going on alone in the election without allying with congress, SP made a greater mistake getting Kalyan Singh, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who held responsibility of the demoliton of the Babrid Masjid, forgetting the fact that it shared the largest of muslim vote bank. The political infighting within the party – between Jeyapradha and thus Amar Singh, the Secretary and the foremost and senior-most Muslim leader – did it work in certain places, where Muslims are dominating.

Deva Gowda

A figure of pathetic from the south that asks for much sympathy in this election in none other than the then Prime Minister (!) Deva Gowda. Proved himself a political broker in his state for seeing his son, Kumarasamy, in the chair of chief minister by making alliance with the BJP and then breaking it – when his son term ended – to seek after the support of the congress, against which he is acting now, Deve Gowda dreamt of becoming the Prime Minister with support from the Third Front, formed with the initiatives of himself.

Election fever in India is over with the results in May 16, 2009. Though the results announced favoured the Congress, it happened exceeding its expectations. Of the six national parties, congress alone is grown to be the biggest party, yet with a shortage of 70 MPs to form a government with absolute majority. BJP, on the other hand, has to suffer its fate for the second term. It is also undeniable that the election, 2009, has brought forth both surprises and shocks alike to parties at national, state and regional level, and has scattered the hope of ruling the nation of many fronts recently formed. It is a miracle for congress itself to form the government for the second term, even among the wave of dislike among the people over the question of the national security, economic recession, killings of Tamils in Srilanka, and above all, contesting the elections without allies in most of the states. Wrecked is the citadel of BJP in states, where it rules, ruled, and is dominant, with particular exception in Chhattisgarh where it managed to win what it won in 2004 elections and in Gujarat. Later will be discussed the factors for the fiascos of the parties, laying special importance to once-efficiently-ruled BJP at the centre.

The election has, no doubt, left on the congress the image of invulnerability, with good number of seats from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. Karunanidhi of Tamilnadu and Mamta Banerjee of West Bengal did their tricks in their respective states, with a huge number of 52 seats contributing to the congress to form the coalition government. Andra Pradesh registered a massive victory of winning 33 seats, the highest of all the thirty states for congress, sweeping BJP completely out of the scene as in the 2004 election and the TDP-TRS-Left. People's expectation of Chiranjeevi's Prajya Rajyam Party to play a vital role proved wrong, while, at the same time, his winning of 18 seats out of 294 Assembly might give him a hold in state politics. Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had the largest share (22 and 20, respectively) for congress next to Andhra Pradesh. The positive results – yet impossible as one expected – in Uttar Pradesh can directly be attributed to the campaign of the “future prime minister of India”, Rahul Gandhi. Punjab, Uttarkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala have shown the signs of improvement that resulted in the increasing number of MPs from that of the 2004 election, while Karnataka, Jharkhand, Assam and Himachal Pradesh ask for congress to concentrate on, as they contributed the congress in number that is smaller compared to that of the previous one. Of the 30 states in India, Bihar is to be given the primary importance, and in the states like Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal, congress is to grow in position of standing on its own foot without allies to win a good and reasonable number of seats.

Winning is winning, and the winner tells their positives alone for their winning. Congress has won the elections, no matter how it has. But, for the BJP, the election has sent a clear message that it can't just avoid, by looking into the might-be-causes for its losses.

That BJP's dream of ruling the nation came untrue is an unexpected one. It ruled and is eligible to rule the country. But the election results left the party with a thousand of questions that can't just let go answered. The election made it a must to analyze the answer the questions, intellectually and immediately, to survive its existence for the next forthcoming election. What went wrong and where?

A layman with a little knowledge of politics even knows that BJP bears the stamp of Hindutva party, the image which must be erased in all of its form, not just to gain the Muslim vote bank, but to retain the vote bank it had in the past, for example, the vote bank it had before Gujarat riots. Narendra Modi, who was projected the standby prime ministerial candidate in the future by the second-level leaders like Arun Jaitley and Arun Shourie, failed to catch the people's attention in his own state, which contributed just a one-seat increase from the 2004 election. This also can't just be avoided, as it reflected for the BJP in the negative. His image of an adept administrator was torn into pieces with the Gujarat riots against Muslims. Targeting Dr.Manmohan Singh personally as the weakest prime minister, portraying him as just a puppet in the hands of Sonia Gandhi whose tune he dances, and their slogan of “decisive prime minister for a determined government” did nothing to their expectations, and which, above all, can better be avoided in Advani's campaign. His campaign of getting back to India the black money in Swiss bank failed to reach the mass, i.e., the populace. His visit to and laying wreath at the Jinnah’s mausoleum and his subsequent panegyric note on Muhammad Ali might fester the feelings of Hindutva camps. Varun Gandhi's spoken words – which should be unspoken – which, though, helped him win for himself in his Pilibit constituency, did in fact much harm to the party. The open public spat between the party leader Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley has had its own share in the debacle. Its eight MPs' involvement in the bribery for asking questions in the Parliament also gave room for congress to term it a 'stained' party. Also, having failed to find out for themselves a good, young, and eloquent speaker to counter the Rahul Gandhi's impeccable campaign, particularly in the state with large number of seats, where it couldn't get not more than 10 seats as it did in the 2004 elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lead its way to doom in many states.

BJP did a greater mistake by failing to keep AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Trinamool Congress (TC) within NDA as its allies, which responded it with a major setback in securing more/or at least a few seats in their respective seats. None can evade the fact the Congress has registered a massive victory by allying itself with TC by making use of the wave of antipathy against the Left, which the BJP missed to. TDP’s 24.6% and TRS’s (Telengana Rastriya Samithi) 6.1% votes can’t simply be ignored in Andhra Pradesh. Yielding to her is what the AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha expects, and fulfilling her expectations might get for it at least a few seats in Tamilnadu. What is unbearable is that it lost to congress in many states where it is at present under power. Despite the fact that BJP is the ruling party in Uttarkhand, it lost the total five seats to congress. Its experiencing a major setback in Rajasthan needs not in the least surprised, as the result is almost know with the Assembly elections results last year, which favoured congress to rule the state. But what is pathetic is that the BJP never took into consideration the factors that caused to lose the 2008 Assembly election – like Gujjar issue, the growing hatred over Vansunthara Raja, its failing to find out a solution for the smothering animosities between party leaders, etc. Winning eight seats out of 14 in Jharkhand asks for not that much appreciation, as it is because, as everyone believes, of the breakdown of partnership “between congress and Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal”. But coming into conflict with Naveen Patnaik's BJD resulted in the negative. Of the three new-born states in 2005, Chhattisgarh alone made its highest contribution, whereas in states like Arunachal Pradesh and Delhi, the BJP recorded absolute swept. Having lost in Madhya Pradesh where it is ruling, in Maharashtra which is to be believed the fort of Hindutva, and in Punjab where its ally, Akali Dal, is ruling could be better termed none other than an irony of 'fate', as it may think. The BJP-ruling states, with exception to Karnataka, would have learnt the art of making votes from the congress-ruling states like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. Incapable of being won even a seat from Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, the party begs for the people's sympathy. So far as Tamilnadu is concerned, the party has reasons for convincing and consoling itself with number of votes, which it never ever gained, even with alliance of 'yesterday-born' parties.

Apart from what is being discussed, what is alarming is the decrease in the percentage of votes. Though it is the second largest party with a hike in the number of seats from the 2004 election, it is to be noted that it has lost around four percentage of votes in total. With a big question mark about the future of BJP, it is under the compulsion of redefining its principles and to get notice of the hitherto ignored factors, if any. Above all, it is in the need of a leader who is impeccable as Vajpayee and who unites second, third-level leaders and party men alike under one umbrella, putting into them the same sense of purpose. Neither taking right decisions nor taking decisions and making them right is what the BJP did in the 2009 election, and if it lets continue this, no doubt, the party will be “fated” to fail in the future, too.

Karunanidhi, under the guise of World Tamil Leader

“Ye Tamil folk, if you throw me into sea, binding me with stone, I will come as catamaran and you can travel on me”, this has been the dialogue of the leader of Tamils all over the world. Better known as an excellent script and dialogue writer for decades, our Tamil race failed until recently to understand him the best actor too. His drama of resignation of his party MPs didn’t stand up to his expectation of creating the image of the staunch supporter of Tamils in Eelam. Organizing human chains in every corner of Tamil Nadu to insist on his party-backed Congress government to interfere and stop killings in Eelam and recent contradiction that it is not good to interfere into the affairs of a country of sovereignty ask people for laughing. It is not unknown to him that conducting public meetings in Tamil Nadu won’t do any particular good to Tamils and prevent killings in Eelam, while being himself the part of the weapons-and-radars-providing Congress government to Sri Lankan government. He gathered all party meetings on 25 November, 2008 to discuss the requisite actions to be taken for saving Tamils, and eventually what he has achieved so far. In fact, the death toll is increased as it is never before in Eelam history.

Indian government has sent to Sri Lanka its Forbes tanks and Indian military personnel to operate it for its mission of brutally killing the Tamils. A troupe of Indian doctors visited Sri Lanka under the guise of taking treatments of the war-affected Tamils is really taking care of the wounded and hurt Indian military personnel. Does these happen without the knowledge of the world Tamil leader Karunanidhi, who acts as the senior advisor – when necessity arises – and who has seven ministers in 16 MPs backing the Congress government? (http://www.tn.gov.in/tnassembly/ministers_central.htm). He might have thought of the Tamils for fools to tell that he and his party is ever the first one to voice and strive for the rights of Tamils of all over the world.

(This essay is not with a view to support any party; the intention being behind it is to show what is hidden.)

Sri Lanka is the only country in the world that bombs to kill its own citizens.

We insist on the Sri Lankan government to view the racial struggle with the background of its past history, and not through the telescope of terrorism.

It is shame on the Sinhalese race who called themselves the saver of “Dharma to grab the rights from Tamils and kill them mercilessly.

This was the voice of a Sri Lankan journalist, Lasantha Vikramathunga, who was assassinated on January 8, 2009, just for portraying the real happenings in Eelam

There is no point in accusing India. We have been winning the battles against the LTTE with the support and help of India is the reply of the Sri Lankan health minister Nimal Sribala DeSilva to the Sri Lankan MP Anura Dhisanayaga in the parliament.

India is taking the fight against the LTTE to the front. Sinhalese Forces are on the field just for name-sake, told a Sri Lankan Army Official to the media.

What is the stand of the ruling Congress government on the assertions of the assassinated journalist? How is the Congress government going to counter the open statement of the health minister of Sri Lanka in the Sri Lankan Parliament itself? What is the Congress government’s response to the Army personnel’s statement?

How many Tamil lives the Congress government sacrificed and is still going to sacrifice in Eelam? How long does the the Congress government continue to cheat the Tamils in India telling them that providing arms and radars to Sri Lanka is for both political and defence-related strategies? How long the Congress government is going to take pleasure in the moaning and weeping of our Tamil lives in Sri Lanka? What does it expect in return from the Sri Lankan government for its supplying the Lankan army with weapons? If in expectations, does it know that it will receive their response in the negative? Does it bear what is happening in Eelam is happening for a north Indian race in some other country? What about the Bangladesh’s history? What forces it to send the Indian intelligence to devise plans for Tamil genocide? What made the congress take a sudden turn from the viewpoint that Indira Gandhi held over the issue of Eelam and her open support for Tamils? And why is this contradiction? If the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi is the reason, of course, it is not without a reason. And if this is the only reason in the Congress standpoint, where does the Congress get the gut to appoint a Sikh for the post of Prime Minister of India, who shot Indira Gandhi dead? Or whether the Sonia-led Congress thinks the murder of Indira Gandhi can be excused, whereas that of Rajiv won’t and can’t be, because he is the present Congress supremo’s husband?

Evading these questions will result, no doubt, in avoiding the Congress in Tamil Nadu. But I expect the answers for these questions from the people of Tamil Nadu. If you have the answers, you will realize that ballot is more powerful than (the) bullet, which the Congress government keeps on giving to Sri Lanka to exterminate our Tamil Race.

Acting on the stage is different from administering a state. It is not just a matter of putting make-ups, and fighting for good and justice and coming on the screen wherever the poor and the needy are facing problems are possible for heroes only in the cinemas. It is easier said and done in cinema than in reality. The questions that this essay seeks to clarify are whether the cine heroes can be "real" heroes in reality and just showing off one's face on the screen is just enough for an actor (or actress) to start a political party on his (or her) own or to be a part of an existing political party. If every actor is of the same thought, it is sure that the country couldn't afford to it.

The state of cinema in Indian is absolutely different from that of other countries. In fact, cinema is here not just viewed as a matter of entertainment, and the actors and actresses as entertainers, particularly in the southern part of India. A side-actor in India who has just shown his/her face on the screen attracts a lot of attraction of the people when he/she makes public appearance. This is the case of a side-actor, then think of the one who plays leading roles or acts as a hero/heroine. No matter for the people if they start a political party, because they are always ready to vote for them, no matter who in reality they are. Voting for the actors in the elections is not that much painstaking as erecting a temple that we did for Kusbhu, a Mubai-born Tamil actress, in Trichy.

I try my hand in this essay about the actor-turned-politicians, giving special attention to the ones in the southern part of India. The cinema has become an unavoidable factor in politics and the impact of it can easily be seen in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and somewhat in the politics of northern states. To strengthen this, we can adduce the chief ministers from the Dravidian parties who have their backgrounds in cinema - C.N. Anna Durai, M.K. Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran and J. Jeyalalitha - among the four, the first two were the writers of stories and dialogues, and the second, full-time actors.

The height of entry of actors into politics reaches its zenith with the arrival of Vijayakanth, a rice mill owner-turned-actor-turned-politicians running his party with hope of becoming the chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 2011. Quite unfit even to be a politician, he has created a kind of illusion of invulnerability in the preceding election. A leader, whether political, religious or others, should be a role model for his followers or disciples to follow. Those belong to DDMK should think and question themselves of "under what grounds he can be a role model for them and how"? Above all, a man who can't control himself cannot control the state. The following incidents can corroborate the above statement: scolding one of his fans or party men before the public for throwing garlands that happened to "hurt" his body at Karungalakudi, near Madurai, and beating his PA in election campaign van for unwittingly running into him. Above all, the thing that cannot be pardoned by anyone with sense of respect for people and their feeling is calling the sitting chief minister of Tamil Nadu M.K. Karunanidhi by his name, forgetting "his age is the honourable chief minister's experience in politics".

It is also as obvious as the moon in the clear sky for anyone with a little interest in politics that Panrutti Ramachandran acts as the brain for his party. This is reflected recently when he evaded the question by the reporter about the terrorist attack on the economy capital of India, Mumbai, as he had not "received" any report about the attack from the Panrutti. Also, honouring the voters of his constituency is not in giving the name of his "won" constituency to his film, but in going the assembly as the representative of his people. Alas, he was busy in shooting the film, "Mariyathai" (respect). Yes, he has shown a good respect for "his" people? The supremo of the DMDK has shined a super actor in cinema, no doubt about that. But, in politics?

"Akila India samathuva Makkal Katchi" is another party in Tamil Nadu having an actor as its supremo. Sarath Kumar, having the credit of keeping a muscle-bound body, entered the cinema as a "villain" and managed later to secure a place for himself as a successful hero with subsequent hit movies. Found himself famous, he joined the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam) and became the Rajya Sabha MP. Albeit an actor, he knows the art of jumping into parties and then starting a one for his own. (I am not talking here about the stamp that it bears as a party belonged to a particular community to which Sarath Kumar himself belongs to.)

Politics is always taken as a weapon for actors when there are no chances for them in cinema or when they are unable to shine as previously in the field. A very good example for the above idea is Karthik, who has recently started a political party, which, he claims, is absolutely for and the development of particular community. It is almost known to everyone that he had been in Forward Block as the state secretary. What are his characteristic traits apart form the fact that he is the son of Muthuraman, also an actor, and belongs to Devar community, and what else has he done for the welfare of his community before entering into politics (i.e. while he was acting)?


The late-sevalie Sivaji Ganesan – appointed as Congress MP in 1980s, later started a political party and contested in 1989 Assembly elections and got defeated – and Bhackiyaraj of Tamil Nadu need not that much attention as the above-mentioned four actors, as the parties of these two "expired". Excluding these discussed, we had and have actors as MLAs in Tamil Nadu assembly, like Napolean and S.V. Sekar and MPs like S.S. Chandran and actors contested in the previous elections, like Mansoor Alikhan.

Apart from the actors, actresses are also actively participating in political business. Latha had been in politics with Thirunavukarasu's M.G.R.Khazhagam. Roja and Vijaya Shanthi are becoming popular figures both within their respective parties and Andhra Pradesh political scene. Vijaya Shanthi is the leader of Thalli Telungana party, and Roja is the Telugu Desam Party women secretary.

When one even thinks of the Andra Pradesh politics, Chiranjeevi becomes an inevitable leader. though the Tollywood superstar inaugurated his party "Praja Rajyam" a few months ago, his popularity among the people make the previous "IT" chief minister Chandrababu Naidu and the sitting "Agri" chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy shivering alike. But the question why the Tollywood super star is so fond of doing service to the people of Andhra, which he can do while he is acting and not entering into politics, is mysterious.

To counter the emerging party of Chiranjeevi, Telugu Desam of Chandrababu Naidu has brought the actor Balakrishna and Junior NTR, both the son and the grandson of N.T. Rama Rao, respectively, into the political battle. He has also made Roja, an actress, the women secretary. Congress is on the hunt for actors and actresses for campaigns. This is the fate of a century-old party!

N.T. Rama Rao starting Telugu Desam Party in 1983 at the age of 60, a party that is now owned by Chandrababu Naidu and co., had the history for himself becoming the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh just within nine months after starting his party.

If we look in a nutshell at the actor-turned-politicians from the Bollywood we can find that the North too made the history of making actors into MPs and ministers. Nargis Dutt, a Bollywood actress and the wife of Sunil Dutt – the later himself was the congress MP and the cabinet minister – was appointed Rajya Sabha MP by Indira Gandhi. From that onward, the actor-family continues to be inseparable from politics. Sanjay Dutt, the son of Sunil Dutt, is on the move into politics and expresses his willingness to contest in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, representing Samajwadi party. His sister Priya Dutt is already the Congress MP in Congress-ruling government. This might be true in the case of Samajwadi party, as this is the only party in the national level that has had the notoriety of making politics as the primary business for actors and actresses.

The ever-superstar of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan, was also for some time doing political business in Samajwadi party. His wife Jeya Bachchan is the current Samajwadi party MP in Rajya Sabha. There are rumours about the entry of Aishwarya Rai into politics, and it seems that “negotiations” for making her a politician from Samajwadi party is under process. Now it becomes our duty to remind political parties in India, especially Samajwadi party, that Abisheik Bachchan the actor is still left only as an actor in the family.

Shabana Azmi, another actress from the Bollywood, was an MP, representing no party in the Rajya Sabha. Vaijayanthi Mala, Hema Malini, Jeyapradha, Poonam Dhillon, and Juhi Chawla already made their marks in politics. Coming to the actors-turned-politicians, we have Rajesh Khanna (a Congress MP during 1991–1996), Shatrughan Sinha (BJP), Govinda (a Congress MP for Mumbai North), Raj Popper (a Samajwadi party MP for Agra in UP), Vinoth Khanna (a BJP MP for Kurthaspur in Punjab), and Dharmendra (a BJP MP for Bihaner in Rajasthan). The last three earned infamy for not participating in debates in the Parliament (7, 5, and 0, respectively).

Talking internationally, Ronald Regan and Arnold Schwarzenegger need special mentioning here, as they became the President and Governor of California, respectively, in the United States, yet they started their careers just as actors. First being a member of Democratic party, Regan then jumped (into) Republic party and started canvassing in support of his republic party. While having got defeated in the Presidential election as the Presidential candidate of Republic party in 1968 and 1976, he then succeeded in becoming the governor of California in 1964 and 1970. “Famed” a failed actor by the people, he finally laurelled his head as the head of the United States in 1980 and 1984.

No doubt, cinema plays a vital role and has a significant impact in changing people’s lives. But the question the essay seeks to clarify is whether it is possible for4 the actors to do good and strive for the welfare of the people without getting into politics. The answer will be a simple “yes”. Charlie Chaplin propagated his ideas in support of socialism and condemned Nazis and tyranny in his films. Kazhaivanar N.S. Krishnan and M.R. Radha from India agitated for and brought about social reforms through their films and plays. Marvin Brando, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, all are actors, were in the news for their strife against racism, weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and atrocities against the natural inhabitants of America, and got supported from the political viewers.

As the people above-mentioned, albeit actors, proved themselves to be useful to the society without getting into politics. It is also worth noting here the Hindi director Mahesh Butt’s standpoint that an actor standing out of the circle of politics can succeed in getting things done for the people. Dev Anand, who was in politics for sometime, especially in 1977, also corroborated Butt’s viewpoint.
Then what makes the actors choose politics as the only means for doing service to the people is left to them themselves. It will be good for all if the actors entered and with the aim of entering understand the fact the politics is not just “start-camera-action” business, and fighting for the sake of the poor is possible and easier in “reel” than in “real”. Will they?