Jayalalitha---The Caped Wonder-Woman

Re: # 15

That table is an eye opener to me.

TN is number 1 there, probably not because, but inspite of Dr. JJ.
It also proves how BAD relatively the other states must be!
If you thnk that labour problems riven Kerala, where any self respecting Indian industrialist would not touch with a pole, is at No.3, one suspects the credentials of the study.

One factor that boosted the ratings could be the recent investments in the Auto sector, etc., which were due to efforts of some (opposition) central ministers.

Dr.JJ takes nothing less than 20% as commision on any investment in her state. Whether the investment is 100 or 10000 crores! Her ministers are given fixed targets too. I dont think that is a healthy sign of `encouraging` investments! Or a lesson for the younger generation on how a future PM should be?

#16

I dont think any one generalises that Tamils are fools, etc. Tamils are well mannered - well mannered enough to accomodate the corruption scandals that makes JJ tick, and her misuse of the police and power etc.

Having said that, that is not to say that the Tamilian fringe which `worships` JJ, are the most most shining examples of Tamilians either. Such a fringe does exist. This is just to recognise that it does, and is encouraged by JJ.

I am not holding fort for the opposition. They must be the most impotent of parties that they could not beat her and her money power inspite of all of them joining hands at election. Nor can they pin her on a single major scandal, inspite of it being in public domain. If at all they do, it is on comparatively minor dealings of JJ, and she does get away using her intelligence and now, power and money.

In summary, I do feel that Tamilians do need a better deal. They would get one if they stopped being `well mannered`, booted the present set of self centered politicians, and got the politicians they deserve.
I would nt be surprised if TN shines on the international stage if that does happen. The stick being that if it does nt, the standards of politics in TN are likely to go down even further - to the level of National politics.

Ref kaalchakra #16

[masanamuthu is right on. There is a general assumption, evidenced in various snide remarks, that `Tamils are fools who worship actors/actoresses and build temples for them.`]

Yes, Tamils are truly intelligent folks.

After 70+years of constant anti-Brahmin propaganda, one of the tep Dravidian parties has to settle on a Brahmin woman from Karnataka as its leader.

After 70+ years of ``Tamil in danger`` (shades of ``Islam in danger``) they had to elect the Malayalee MGR as their Chief Minister.

When MGR died, the choice was between his wife Janaki (b@stard daughter of a brahmin man) and his paramour Jayalalitha. Of course the masanamuthus settled for 100% Brahmin blood!

And of course these people built a temple to the Muslim actress Khushbhoo and were handing out kumkum as prasad.

Ref parthaab #17

[Dr.JJ takes nothing less than 20% as commision on any investment in her state.]

She still doesn`t figure in Asia`s Richest Persons List. That honor goes to (a drum roll please) Murasoli (Drumbeat) Maran and his family. Considering that he and his uncle Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion arrived in Madras with hardly a nickel to their names, it is a remarkable achievement.

Since Maran died after an eight-month long coma, his children are trying to figure out where (and in whose names) Maran parked his properties and cash. So it is entirely possible that Maran`s family no longer figures in the Asia`s Richest Persons List.

Re: # 18

After 70+years of constant anti-Brahmin propaganda, one of the tep Dravidian parties has to settle on a Brahmin woman from Karnataka as its leader.


Well.. that`s true, But she also gave the ``sankaracharya`` a good kick in the a** though..
:-))

Ref masanamuthu #15

[The backward caste movement has kicked the brahmins out and monopolised the power, but now the most backward castes and dalits are asserting their power and want their legitimate share.. ]

Nope, just like the slackers in the rest of India, all these people want brain-death to be recognized as the sole qualification for education/employment etc.

#21 by harimau on November 13, 2005 8:12pm PT

Hi

You seem to be one of those Brahmins affected by the Dravidian movement. No doubt it caused havoc to your community. But Brahmins were never ready to accept or bring parity in the community. Have you ever seen a Brahmin land lord who earned his money by working on the fields. People in TN have long forgotten the anti-brahmin thoughts. Now it has become a level playing field.
/**Nope, just like the slackers in the rest of India, all these people want brain-death to be recognized as the sole qualification for education/employment etc. **/

Dont be in the cloud nine. No longer this is true. Come down to TN and see how many BC/OBC/SC candidates are outscoring Brahmins. You pose yourself as a patriotic Indian. What is the percentage of Brahmin soldiers in our army.

I dont mean to say that you guys have no patriotism. At the same time dont try to belittle others. India as a whole has lots of problems. But we bold enough to admit and accept our short comings. Indians will progress and prosper due to this maturity.

Tamils never hated Brahmins or for that matter any individual. They resented a community`s domination. Thats the reason you find Brahmin leaders in TN.

It would be wonderful if the Brahmin community wholeheartedly accepted the slings and arrows and saw it as a necessary swing of history. It would be wonderful if the takeover of state administration meant that people who had nothing, now received everything. But that has not happened.
Just to take one small point. Violence against the girl child, violence against women. It`s not enough to talk about development. Take the daily violence against women one sees on the streets. Take the killing of female babies, a very high proportion. All of you who have written in are men. Are there any women reading this? Please write in.
Revathy Gopal

Re: # 19

As I said earlier, it would have been useful (but impractical) to have a corruption index for politicians and chief ministers. I am sure MGR took money too. And many of us even know where it is parked.

Thats the past. Like the DMK`s Maran. Let party affiliations, like the caste factor, not cloud the corruption issue at hand - which is the most pressing.

Corruption is the only issue that brings all parties to even ground. But having said that, it is the opinion of many in and out of government that the present government is at least 10 times more corrupt than a DMK government. Corruption overwhelms all other considerations.

I also personally believe that the word Patriotism has caused enough problems in this world.

Jayalalitha has been a good CM as far as large businesses are concerned and she has brought several positive business proposals to completion. Indeed, so has her arch rival Karunanidhi during his rule. The sad thing is that there is a streak of puritanism in the state that is supported by every political party, indeed, a case of unity of politicians in this near Talibanesque approach to ``morals.`` While Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi have not themselves encouraged this, their silence while minor parties participate in thuggish attacks on silly actresses like Kushbu and Suhasini Maniratnam for stating personal opinions claiming that they have ``disgraced Tamil womanhood`` and judges issue Non Bailable Warrants against actresses for some silly remark on network television, the state seems to be regressing into moral fundamentalism. It would help the Tamil Taliban to remember that when the Taliban were routed, the people of Afghanistan cut out their eyes and stuffed their mouths with currency, leaving their bodies rotting in the streets. Tamils may not be brutal people in the Afghan mould but it is a question of how extreme this could get before the population of the state reacts in a metaphorically similar manner to get rid of the thuggish moral policemen there.

Whether Jayalalitha manages to win next year`s election or not, the positive thing is that Tamilnadu`s economy is doing well and that, most probably, is not going to change no matter who wins the next time round. That said, her career does have a long way to go even if she loses the next election in Tamilnadu`s all or nothing tradition of electing and throwing parties out. She is still young compared to her biggest rivals and politically savvy enough to manage to work her way back even if she is handed a second defeat like she was some years ago after her first controversial term in power.

Ref reva315 #23

[Just to take one small point. Violence against the girl child, violence against women. It`s not enough to talk about development. Take the daily violence against women one sees on the streets. Take the killing of female babies, a very high proportion. All of you who have written in are men. Are there any women reading this? Please write in.]

The women are busy working as code coolies or answering telephones at call centers.

Masanamuthus and their buddies should write in but they are too busy figuring out how much their fraudulent degrees are worth in the marriage market.

Revathy,

This one was a nice article with a lot of fodder for gossip, etc.

Hope one of these days you could come up with an article on corruption in India per se (nothing new), especially on judicial corruption, which is relatively well hidden from the Indian media, and is much more significant than political corruption.

Ref vengatramanan #22

[Have you ever seen a Brahmin land lord who earned his money by working on the fields.]

Well, do you think the really big zamindars worked on their fields either? You know who these guys are? Descendants of Telugu-speaking warriors in the pay of the Maratha kingdom in Tanjore and the Naik kingdom in Madurai. They in fact even called themselves rajas though their official title was ``palayakkaran``. That would include Veerapandia Kattabomman. Do you think Kattabomman spent his time behind a plough?

Have you heard of a brahmin landlord killing his workers? How about the Thevars/Maravans/Mukkulatthor? Do you know how people tremble when the caste name Vandayar is mentioned in Tanjore district?

[People in TN have long forgotten the anti-brahmin thoughts. Now it has become a level playing field.]

69% official quotas for BC/MBC/OBC/SC/ST with a promise of quotas for Muslims, Christians, hermaphrodites, people with just one ball, those who were mutilated into hijr@s, etc., etc., etc. I suppose level playing ground is how Anbukkarasi Maran got into medical college.

How come the only two South Indians to win Nobel Prizes were brahmins? You think Miss Maran would win the Nobel Prize in Medicine some day? Unfortunately, unlike Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion`s honorary doctorate (awarded over the dead body of a protesting student), any amount of money is not going to net a Nobel award for Miss Maran.

[Dont be in the cloud nine. No longer this is true. Come down to TN and see how many BC/OBC/SC candidates are outscoring Brahmins.]

I AM sitting in Chennai so don`t give me any BS about how the BCs are outscoring anybody else.

[You pose yourself as a patriotic Indian. What is the percentage of Brahmin soldiers in our army.]

Is Dayanidhi Maran in the army? His very first job is: Minister for Information Technology and Communications! Not bad for someone with an MBC background as his grand-uncle Karunanidhi self-pityingly refers to himself.

[At the same time dont try to belittle others.]

You are the guys demanding special quotas for being damaged in the cranium so who is belittling whom?

[But we bold enough to admit and accept our short comings. Indians will progress and prosper due to this maturity.]

Yep, flat-line EEG is simply a medical condition and should not be held against an individual.

[Tamils never hated Brahmins or for that matter any individual. They resented a community`s domination. Thats the reason you find Brahmin leaders in TN.]

I suppose that is why Karunanidhi referred to ``invaders through the Khyber Pass`` during the last election. Do you think he was referring to Muslims? Hey, he was at the Iftar feast just a few days back, sipping soup and chowing down on whatever was offered. Making friends with ``invaders through the Khyber Pass``, eh?

Ref masanamuthu # 20

[But she also gave the ``sankaracharya`` a good kick in the a** though.. ]

Everyone of her actions were roundly condemned by the Supreme Court, the most recent being the transfer of the case outside Tamil Nadu.

You should be alarmed at this woman`s vindictive and authoritarian actions instead of being joyous that a Hindu religious figure was arrested on trumped-up charges.

Would she arrest a maulvi, any maulvi, on the eve of Ramzan? Or a Christian minister on Christmas Eve? She doesn`t have the b@lls for that.

She chose the most docile community to pick on.

Ref #29 by harimau on

Why are you obsessed with the nobel prize. We dont need it. We need a society with people who can understand a Doctor`s advice or an advice of an agri expert. We need people who can think on their own. There are people worthy of praise. They are contributing in their small ways. I dont care if Maaran went to military. Have you seen any Brahmin on the road wanting to join the army as a soldier.

For your information I have not seen a single Brahmin farmer in my life. It would be a happy thing if he would be ready to flex his muscles.


/*Well, do you think the really big zamindars worked on their fields either?*/

Well I come from an agriculture and telugu speaking family. Who do you think worked in my fields. My grandfather,grandmother,father and my mother with other telugu and tamil speaking people. My neighbouring lands are owned by Tamils. There you can see Telugu labours working. You are a guy who is far removed from the realities.

All castes in the rural tamilnadu have become interdependant. You know what. The traders for banana suckers are SCs.

You are an arm chair guy.

There are no resevations in Business and Trade. Why dont the Brahmins compete with others in the market place. Dont start listing guys like TVS. We are talking about common people.