All quiet on the Tamil front

Its been long time since I have seen an incisive article like this. No faff, but just a fresh look at things on hand, wonder why it did not make it to the front pages. Another scam in the making? Will have to wait for a change in the Centre to know that.

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Arati R Jerath

Saturday, November 01, 2008  23:58 IST

The flare-up between the DMK and the Congress on the LTTE issue died as suddenly as it erupted. One day we saw DMK chief M Karunanidhi threatening to pull out from the UPA and ordering a mass resignation by Tamil MPs.

Less than a week later, he purred like a tame cat and declared that the crisis was over. Just like that. Curiously, the ground situation in Sri Lanka, which caused the flare-up in the first place, hadn’t changed.
The Sri Lankan army continues to inch its way to the LTTE headquarters in Killinochchi and it looks to be a matter of time before the Eelam dream of Lanka Tamils finally collapses. Puzzled political observers have been joining the dots to understand the abrupt about turn by Karunanidhi and they are finding it difficult to shake off the uncomfortable feeling that the stink originates in the telecom ministry held by DMK minister A Raja.

For the past few months, the government has been flooded by complaints from NGO telecom watchdogs about the manner in which spectrum licences were handed out this year, without following the accepted international practice of holding an auction for the best price.

Such was the pressure that the government was actually moving to order a preliminary inquiry by the CBI. Curiously, the big bang from Chennai came almost immediately. Mere coincidence? Could be, except that the government has apparently dropped plans to have the CBI investigate the complaints and Karunanidhi has torn up the resignation letters of his MPs. All’s quiet on the Tamil front once again.

The flare-up between the DMK and the Congress on the LTTE issue died as suddenly as it erupted. One day we saw DMK chief M Karunanidhi threatening to pull out from the UPA and ordering a mass resignation by Tamil MPs.

Less than a week later, he purred like a tame cat and declared that the crisis was over. Just like that. Curiously, the ground situation in Sri Lanka, which caused the flare-up in the first place, hadn’t changed.
The Sri Lankan army continues to inch its way to the LTTE headquarters in Killinochchi and it looks to be a matter of time before the Eelam dream of Lanka Tamils finally collapses. Puzzled political observers have been joining the dots to understand the abrupt about turn by Karunanidhi and they are finding it difficult to shake off the uncomfortable feeling that the stink originates in the telecom ministry held by DMK minister A Raja.

For the past few months, the government has been flooded by complaints from NGO telecom watchdogs about the manner in which spectrum licences were handed out this year, without following the accepted international practice of holding an auction for the best price.

Such was the pressure that the government was actually moving to order a preliminary inquiry by the CBI. Curiously, the big bang from Chennai came almost immediately. Mere coincidence? Could be, except that the government has apparently dropped plans to have the CBI investigate the complaints and Karunanidhi has torn up the resignation letters of his MPs. All’s quiet on the Tamil front once again.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1202596