First Salvo

The reservation rage is back.The 2 judge bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Lokeshwar Singh Panta, in a stinging verdict, has stayed the quota coteries' plans to push through the 27% reservation this academic year.In a particularly embarrassing observation, the court said "Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you."It went on to add "Differentiation or classifications for special preference must not be unduly unfair to the persons left out of the favoured groups".

The court did not stop with that. It said "Though it is submitted that the number of seats available for the general category is not affected, that is really no answer to the broader issue. If there is possibility of increase in seats in the absence of reservation, it could have gone to the general category"

Now, cut to Chennai. March 29,2007. TN CM is in Mahindra City inaugurating the new BMW factory. Hearing the stay order, he dashes off to Anna Arivalayam , gets into a huddle with his allies, expresses 'shock' over the verdict and calls for a TN banch on Mar 31 (Sat).

Mar 31, Chennai. Typical bandh rituals Sun TV declares it a massive success and proudly announces that TN was completely shut down. Jaya TV meanwhile reports the difficulties of stranded passengers and flays MK for causing 'inconvenience' to the people (Ironically, JJ is against the SC verdict, but blames the stay on the inefficient handling of the case . ADMK boycotted the bandh accusing the TN govt of 'indifference' towards protecting 'Social justice'.
I had a nice time watching these channels as their news bulletins were more comical than any comedy show on air.Taking a cue, AP shut down on April 4. And Gemini TV and ETV took over from Sun and Jaya.

Back in Delhi, parties flay the SC order. Close followers of Indian politics will be hardly surprised that the very parties that extensively quote the SC judgements when it comes to Ayodhya or the Gujarat riots,unashamedly question its authority. Indian politics thrives in double speak and hypocricy. The better you are at it, the farther you go. And our 'netas' know that well.

Barely had the Arcot veerasamy vs madras High court spat ( where he compared the courts to a 'Katta Panchayathu' and demanded that the judges be shown their place. Google search for details:)-) died down , the TN govt(which is synonymous with the DMK) has , by calling the bandh,mounted pressure on the SC. MK, the master demagogue, conveniently (mis)interpreted the people's unwillingness to take on the DMK hooligans as a public endorsement of his stand and gave himself a pat on his back.

But ever wondered why MK is so unnerved? I'll answer that next week....