A lot of acrimony is being unnecessarily generated on the visit of our chief minister to the house of Sandeep, and on the words which were uttered by every one involved in those incidents. Have any of you watched the scenes relayed by the TV news channels? Mr. Unnikrishnan was going off the handle and was very abusive on the chief minister. We just don’t call an old and venerable man “poda” (clear out you….. Utterly disrespectful even to a younger man than you are). His very age should have protected him from such unseemly behavior. Over and above that he was the Chief Minister of a state.
Mr. Vayalar Ravi of the Congress party had the guts to say it openly and that is the kind of integrity that we should have. Calling a spade a spade is what is honesty is all about. Mr. Achudanandan has been abused and there can be no question about it.
It was natural for him to react roughly to such abusive language. He is a raw man, he has not been into the schools of the polished, and he is not the one to play act in his life.
His efforts against corruption and the disease of the system have been legendary. He might be rough, but he is not bad. And that is something in these confusing times. To call him an anti national because of his reaction to abusive language is nothing short of dubious. What are these paragons of nationality trying to prove? This is emotional black mailing, this is fishing in troubled waters, this is muddying up the pool.
He was upset, and I was upset too watching those scenes. I do not care what political party he belongs to, what his views on the subject are. But he is 85 and he is active and energetic. He is better than most of us who are young and “well bred”. He has clear views on a lot of issues, he is a tough man, and he is not the one to back off when he takes up a challenge. He has failed several times to carry them out, but that does not make him a lesser man than he is.
Who ever put Mr. Unnikrishnan up to such unseemly acts was not acting on the best interest of any one concerned.
I was always been proud about my people. I thought every malayalee is intelligent and would intuitively know where the truth lies. I was proud to have been born among them even though I consider myself to be a lesser intelligent member of the race, but now I have my doubts, are they intelligent at all. Are they viewing things in their clear light? How could they have missed the sight of their collective identity being abused by one and all? How could they react childishly in this manner, what are they afraid off, are they afraid that unless they don’t react like this they would be called anti nationals?
What the hell is this nationalism which disregards the respect due to an old man , that too an efficient man who has been around in the political scene of the nation even before most of us were born? How many anti national acts has this man committed? He is much better than most of those who visit their ‘masters’ on the sly and carry out their instructions word for word.
He has his failings, he is only human and we do not have super men amongst us.
Sadly some are burning his effigies and some are openly demanding apologies from him. He might not relent and say things he doesn’t believe in. I also think that it is not needed. People has to have respect, they should not be treated like bums in public whatever the circumstances. If an old person known for his integrity who is a representative of the people could not expect decent behavior in public, what can we the lesser mortals expect for ourselves? Burning effigies indeed!
Whose effigies are we burning? It looked like we were burning our own effigies. Instead we should be burning the effigies our stupidity and incompetence. This is a time of national crisis. We got to stop cashing in on the emotional fallout of the incidents. It is petty politicization of a deep and disturbing issue.
We are making a din about nothing. We are really moving away from the real issues at hand by indulging in petty emotionalism. What is done is done and it is much better left alone. These are confusing times, troubling times, we need to take a hold on ourselves. We should be thinking about strategies on defeating ugly anti people activities rather than going at each others throats.
Instead of asking Mr. Achuthanandan to step down as Mr. Lalloo Prasad Yadav did, we should step down from the silly pedestal of sentimentalism we have erected in our midst. The world is laughing at us and perhaps those who have orchestrated these unseemly incidents are laughing the most.
Let us not be diverted from the real issue of the threat to our people by side tracking. Let us look behind the smoke screens and be aware of the dangers that lie concealed there.
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