The man with several wives claimed that his rule was better than the golden rule of Raja Raja Chola!
The expressbuzz reports:
“Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Sunday sought to draw parallel to the rule of King Raja Raja Chola, considered to be the second golden era, to that of the DMK regime led by him now(!)”
That was his audaucity!
Was there a single corruption under Raja Raja Chola’s rule? Or stealing and raping Brahmin girls by his sons, never mind the murders perpetrated?
I watched the celebrations in Thanjavur for the millenium celebrations of Peria Koil . With all the persecutions of the Brahmins in the last sixty years of DMK rule the show was gloriously conducted by two Brahmins – MC Ramanan made his extempore kavi on the glory of Shiva and Raja Raja and the danseuse Dr. Padma Subramanian who brought a thousand dancers mostly Brahmins who paid their way to be there at their own expense. Two of the three songs were in Sanskrit and one of them composed by Adi Sankara and all of them composed by Brahmins!
Disturbing trend of moral ‘policing’ in Chennai
CHENNAI: On September 13, a research scholar in Madras University was humiliated by a police sub-inspector of Kotturpuram station as she was sitting with a friend near the Indira Nagar Mass Rapid Transport System station on Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR). After the woman took up the case with the City Commissioner of Police, the subinspector was suspended. Though the incident led to some public outcry following the media attention it drew as the woman had the courage to speak up, people complain that policemen generally get away with such bad behaviour.In fact, there are multiple instances of men and women being pulled up in public places and abused by foul-mouthed policemen that go unreported.Even married couples choose to remain silent despite being handed out threats and forced by the cops to pay up. Educated men and women often cringe at the outbursts of policemen, who behave as though they had caught a ‘wanted’ criminal while confronting a couple in a lonely spot.That most victims are scarred forever and fail to report it to the police or others is mainly because they themselves are not aware of their rights. Besides, the standard threat, “I will book you under brothel case,” would be humiliating and intimidating for any self-respecting woman. Most of the time the men — if they protest — are beaten up, as happened in the case of the research scholar.Sub-inspector N Varghese slapped the man in public when he summoned the courage to ask if they could have a civilized conversation.The policeman’s argument was that a married woman was sitting next to another man. “You are a Tamil woman. How can you sit with another man?” he questioned. Then came his one-liner: “This is Tamil Nadu, not America!” His threats during the 45 minutes he spend humiliating the two persons, included calling up the woman’s husband to the police station and telling him that he saw his wife in a compromising position with the man. The sub-inspector even tried to take the woman in a police jeep with no woman constable. His parting shot: “Take up the matter wherever you want.” The same day, a senior high court lawyer in his mid-40s was subjected to similar treatment when he was coming out of the Triplicane railway station with his wife. The policeman wanted to know who the woman was.When the lawyer interjected, saying the cop could show more decorum, pat came the reply: “Should I get down from the jeep and bend before you?” Which brings us to the question: must policemen always snarl at couples when they see them in a public place at night? It’s nobody’s case that there should be nil policing. But the other extreme — harassing, abusing and getting their pockets lined — is equally appalling. But do cops really care about sullying their image?
Patrolling is cultural hangover, feels CoP
Chennai City Police Commissioner T Rajendran, who acted quickly in suspending the sub-inspector who humiliated the research scholar, is categorical that the police cannot do moral policing.He has been taking steps to reorient the police force to the changing urban lifestyle here and has given clear instructions to officials in the lower ranks — from that of inspectors and below — not to pull up couples. The force, he says, has been told during the daily roll call to stay away from the private lives of individuals.However, he sees the whole issue as ‘delicate’, which needs sensitive handling. Recalling his experience in London, Rajendran says he witnessed a pair young lovers hugging and kissing in a seat just in front of him in a public bus. “None of the people inside the bus reacted to it any way. Will the members of the public ignore a couple canoodling in a bus in our country?” he wonders.“Ours is a changing society with deep roots in cultural traditions.” He feels that policemen in lower ranks hail from rural backgrounds and come with those cultural hangovers.“When they spot a couple sitting alone and holding hands, they immediately take a parental position and over-react, which obviously complicates the problem.’’ He agrees that the police force needs to walk the tight rope between enforcing law and changing nature of the society. While Section 75 (1) of the City Police Act, which provides punishment for drunkenness or riotous or indecent behaviour in public places, needs to be enforced, action must be moderated taking into account the emerging cultural complexities of modern society vis-a-vis relationships.“We have instructed ground level officers to politely tell couples found exceeding the limits of decent behaviour in a public place and indulging in obscene acts, to leave the place,” he says. Couples should also be advised not to go to secluded places, where they could invite the attention of anti-social elements out to misbehave with women or rob people of their valuables, he adds. Thus far and no further, he advises cops.Rajendran points out that instances of couples openly displaying their affection in public places have increased in the post-liberation era.Such things were rare in the early 70s, he says attributing the present trend to modern day communications like mobile phones, internet and TV.“As the face of society changes, the police force is also facing new challenges and we are trying to address them,’’ he signs off with a smile.
Horror stories from the beaches
Recently married couple, Yoga and Rahul (names changed), were on a pleasant drive through a road near Thiruvanmiyur beach on a Friday night last month when things suddenly took an ugly turn with a two policemen signaling them to stop. “They stopped us and asked a zillion shady questions like why were we out, what we were up to next and whether our parents knew where we were and doing what. Then they told us they could put us behind bars for ‘doing something inappropriate,’” recalls Yoga.“When I told them that we were a married couple, he refused to believe me. Then I showed my metti (toe ring).” He lectured us not to misuse public places like the beach. We did not want to create a scene and land in unnecessary trouble. We guessed he wanted some easy money, so we offered Rs 200.When he gave a nasty stare, we offered Rs 300 more and bought our way out of trouble,” informs Rahul.Another pair of lovers faced a different situation at Besant Nagar beach. Recalls N Rohini, who is doing her MPhil: “I was sitting with my boyfriend; mind you, we were not even sitting that close. But two constables came and started barking at us. We left immediately fearing trouble.”
The criminals police see in the dark
Imagine standing on a Chennai street, talking to a few friends, after sunset. A cool breeze wafts by followed by a Chennai Police patrol car.A policeman spews venom at you from inside and commands you to scram.Stalinist though it may seem, you don’t have a choice. Any appeal on your part to the cop’s good sensibilities will be met with threats of retribution. The cop knows you will back down, and you do. You and your friends slink away, wondering if you had broken any rules.The situation would have been exponentially worse if there were girls in the bunch. Even if she were your sister, sinister motives would be seen and awkward questions asked. All this for what? A harmless streetside chat with friends.“This is ridiculous,” frets Jaya (name changed on request). “It is like the Chennai Police hates women. They seem to think any woman outside her house after sunset could be up to no good. And believe me, I am making that sound polished,” she fumes. Jaya says cops have, on occasion, threatened to book her and her other female friends under a ‘brothel case’ if they did not leave the spot immediately.Her latest run-in with the police happened right outside her office on a busy road in T Nagar. Jaya says an amiable work-related discussion, which started as she was leaving her office with her colleagues, had continued on to the street outside. “Soon, a cop car materialised and they started asking us what business we had there. That’s fair. But they told us it was late and that ‘it was not right’ for men and women to be talking to each other on the road that late in the night.It was just 7.45 pm for crying out loud,” Jaya says with disbelief.She argues that it is not right to consider every person on the street a criminal once the sun goes down. But policemen disagree. They painstakingly build a case against their perceived misogyny and high-handedness. “Prevention is better than cure, isn’t it?” asks a retired police official in a practised tone. “That’s why the law gives the police the authority to break up any gathering that arouses suspicion,” he says, adding that one should meet friends at home and not by the street.And there is support for the police’s point of view. Anand and his friends have been meeting at a tea stall in Ashok Nagar right from their college days. For eight years, the place had been the arena for discussions on worldly issues. But the friends are not able to gather anymore, thanks to constant police patrolling.“They started asking us not to gather here after some incidents of chain snatching, robbery and even a murder close by. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that,” he says.
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/disturbing-trend-of-moral-policing-in-chennai/210296.html
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