Poor Karunanidhi. His empire is in ruins and the sun is going down on a long and un-illustrious career. By the time Amma relinquishes her hold on Fort St George, the man will be too old to recline in the seat of power
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It all seems to be stacked against him these days. The poor sod simply can't fathom why his daughter is in jail.
"I feel like you would if your daughter was innocent and jailed" he said the other day. After all, in his mind 200 crores is a piffling amount that nobody should have to go to jail for. Hey, his sons skim that off on a daily basis! Where else do you think all that money for the free TVs, free sewing machines and free cows comes from?
To him, it wasn't so much about his darling daughter being caught with her hand in the till, but a conspiracy led by the center against him.
But he does have an argument going. If everyone who made Rs 200 crores on the sly, was put into Tihar, India would need to move its Parliament along too. Karnataka would be denuded off ministers and babus. (Not to
forget miners!) Maya would have to be put in solitary for longer than the concrete on her statues would stand.
And every second cop in Delhi worth his bribe would be in Tihar ufffd and then who would do the critical work ufffd like protecting the Gandhis?u00a0u00a0u00a0
The Tams who voted out the old Stalwart of the Sun though, have a really, really short memory. Amma who may regally wave from her balcony in a self-righteous puff of "that's not my plump cheeks shining, that's my halo" was known to have wadded her pockets rather generously (that's just a metaphor I've liberally used, all you see is not the afore-mentioned wadded pockets, it's a generously wadded body.). Her foster son's wedding was a gross display of power and ill-begotten wealth.u00a0 And the antecedents of her vast property are all questionable. (The antecedents of her vast capes are also as questionable, but that's a different column altogether!)
Back to Kani who may weep and tell us all loud and clear that her only mistake was being Karuna's daughter.
Nobody mentions the fact that her brothers and supporters didn't stand up for her. Or the fact that she is Rs 200 crores (at least!) richer. But that doesn't make her guilty ufffd only a victim!
Her associate Raja has been nominated by Time Magazine as one of the people who most abused power. It has to stand for something that he ranks ahead of Gaddafi and Hitler!u00a0
I got this sms yesterday: Who is the luckiest man in the world? It has to be Kani's husband: he's got Rs 200 crores in his hand ufffd and his wife is in jail!!u00a0u00a0
Rather a good joke. Except if you were poor Karuna.
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