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'What have they done for us? Nothing, absolutely nothing'

Shobha Warrier in Madras

Unbridled sarcasm. None too subtle innuendo. Personal attacks. Vitriol and violence. And just the barest smattering of politics, the merest, glancing touch on issues that matter. That, for you, is a summation of electioneering, Tamil Nadu style.

And finally, at 1700 hours on Thursday, it all came to end. If luck holds, it will be five years before we are subjected to an encore.

Ironically, it ended as it began. Where one would expect politicos of all hues to take optimum advantage of the last day of campaigning, the reigning icon of Poes Garden spent the day in splendid isolation.

We need to rely on rumour for the whys and wherefores, since little that is official comes out of amma's camp. What we know is that at the last minute, J Jayalalitha cancelled a planned programme to campaign for the Congress candidate in Madras. And what we hear is that she was miffed by some reported statement of Sonia Gandhi's.

The DMK for its part fielded its big guns for one climactic bash at Chindadripet, bringing together on the dais Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the BJP's L Ganeshan, cinestars Sharat Kumar and Revathy and the three DMK candidates from Madras, Murasoli Maran, T R Balu and Kuppusawamy.

The show was, in local parlance, paisa vasool for the large turnout. As I arrived (that sounds simple enough, but it took some doing, given the crowd, the barricades, the over-zealous cops), Ganeshan, showing a fine understanding of which party held seniority, was gracefully handing over the spotlight to the DMK with the words "When the sun arrives, the lotus has to retreat" (for the uninitiated, the reference is to the symbols of the DMK and BJP respectively).

Maran's enthusiasm seemed as alive in his final campaign speech as it was on day one of electioneering. Brandishing some foreign newspapers purportedly carrying articles in praise of Vajpayee and predicting a bleak future for Sonia Gandhi, Maran segued into a pitch for the minority vote, telling that segment of the electorate that they would be well looked after and should not desert the DMK. He did not say so in as many words, but the undercurrent was that the alliance with the BJP could, in the DMK perception, have made the minorities a tad wary.

Revathy is a recent convert to the BJP ideology -- and judging by her experience, has been finding politicking much more fatiguing than acting in films and producing television serials, which is where the butter and jam on her bread come from. Twenty one days of campaigning haven't given her too much confidence, seemingly. Nor has it given her enhanced fluency in Tamil. For the leitmotif of her speech was, "I hope I was of some use. I do not know how to say this in Tamil. I hope I was of some use."

Sharath Kumar, however, has no such problems. A fluent speaker, the actor was all fire and brimstone. And he has reason to be -- four years ago, Sharath Kumar was seen as Jayalalitha's answer to the Rajnikanth charisma. (Interestingly, in sobriquet-crazy Tamil Nadu, Rajnikanth has long been referred to simply as 'Superstar' -- while Sharath Kumar is 'Supreme Star').

The falling out between the actor and Jayalalitha was messy. Lots of reasons are cited for the break-up -- the final straw being when Jayalalitha asked him for a copy of his hit film of that time, Nattamai. It was ostensibly for private viewing, but to his shock, Sharat Kumar found the film being aired on JJ TV, Jayalalitha's cable channel, on a festival day. The film was then in a middle of a long run in the theatres, and hit the actor where it hurts.

Though he did not refer to his grouses against the lady, his feelings were evident in the contemptuous tone of references to Jayalalitha, and the fulsome praise for Karunanidhi.

All this, however, was merely by way of prelude -- when Karunanidhi is on the dais, there is only one star. One of the finest orators in the state, the TN chief minister employs a style that is a mix of humour, gentle satire, high rhetoric and impeccable Tamil.

First crack out of the box, Karunanidhi gently corrected Ganeshan. "When the sun comes, the lotus blooms, it does not retreat," he said, in a reference to the BJP leader's closing line.

He then addressed himself to the minorities, and assured them that the DMK government would look after them "irrespective of the caste, religion and creed you belong to."

He then addressed himself to an attack on the opposing alliance. "It was Jayalalitha who, on 31.1.98, said that we didn't need a foreigner as prime minister when there were 970 million Indians living here. She said the AIADMK would see to it that Sonia Gandhi did not become the prime minister of this country. So, you think and decide."

Veteran election-watchers in the audience commented that it was vintage Karunanidhi. Not for him the shrill pitch that characterises most political speeches -- rather, he laces his speeches with history, with references and interesting observations on bygone stalwarts of the order of E M S Namboodiripad, E K Nayanar, C N Annadurai, Kamaraj, Jayaprakash Narayan and the like. More importantly, his speeches make you laugh.

With the clock three minutes shy of the cut off point of 5 pm, Karunanidhi ended his speech with an appeal to the voters to vote for... well, you know..

As I walked back to my vehicle, comments from the passing public filtered through to me. And the abiding impression I got was one of complete disillusionment.

"I don't like the BJP. I don't like Vajpayee. I don't like any of these politicians. Let Sonia Gandhi come and rule the country. Have we not tried all the others?"

"See how pompous they are. All of them come in big cars. What have they done for us? Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"From morning, I run from one house to another and work in those houses to make a few hundred rupees and my husband drives a rented auto rickshaw. We do not have a house of our own and we stay with my mother. I have three kids and I find it difficult to even feed all of them. When it rains, you should come and see our lane, in the rainy season the water comes chest high. Has any politician visited us and asked us whether we want anything? No one. We have voted for Jayalalitha, we have voted for Karunanidhi but they forget us the moment they come to power. So, tell me why we should vote? We will only vote for somebody who will help us when we are in distress."

"Why do they give us false promises? I hate all politicians. I don't want to talk about them at all."

Many voices. Many moods. But one common undercurrent.

As you leave the venue, you are struck by a thought. In events such as this, the politicians talk, the people listen. And don't believe a word of what they hear.

If it were the other way around... if the people could talk, while the politicians listened... then perhaps we would take the first step towards solving some of our pressing problems.

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