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The weeklong media hype notwithstanding, if there is one thing that the arrest of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko shows, it is the change in the mindset of the people of Tamil Nadu.
While there was hoopla in New Delhi and Mumbai, where Vaiko landed from the United States en route to Chennai, it was work as usual in his native state.
Compared to the self-immolation by a couple of cadres when Vaiko was expelled from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam nine years ago, the response to his arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act was tepid at best.
Everything was normal around the Chennai airport, where Vaiko was arrested, and along the route to Madurai, where he was produced before a judicial magistrate on Friday.
If there was any tension in the vicinity of the airport, it was more due to the presence of a large number of policemen than anything else.
But Vaiko is not the only victim of voter indifference in Tamil Nadu, where every political event used to be dramatised for weeks on end.
When All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa was arrested on corruption charges on December 6, 1996, policemen and journalists swamped her Poes Garden residence. However, party workers and leaders were conspicuous by their absence and public relations officers handled the day's proceedings.
It was only when Jayalalithaa's return to power became imminent that partymen began returning, leading to the Dharmapuri bus burning incident. Though three female students of an agriculture university were burnt alive in the incident, in the overall context, it was an aberration and not the norm.
Last year when Jayalalithaa ordered the arrest of her predecessor and DMK president M Karunanidhi, the whole country was shocked.
The electronic media in distant Delhi called in experts and analysts to comment on the legality of the controversial midnight knock, that too without a court warrant.
There were also debates on whether the Centre could or would intervene, as the state government had allegedly flouted rules in arresting two Union ministers --Murasoli Maran and T R Baalu -- along with Karunanidhi.
But in Tamil Nadu, barring a motley crowd of DMK cadres who courted arrest in a few places, there was little by way of demonstrative anger.
There was revulsion at the thought of an octogenarian being put to avoidable discomfort at midnight. The people debated the issue over their morning cuppa, but as the day drew along, shops and offices opened and it was business as usual.
It is not only arrests and adversities to which the average Tamilian has turned his back. Even the electoral victories of the AIADMK last year, and the DMK-Tamil Maanila Congress combine in 1996, was more in the mind.
After inflicting an unforgettable defeat on the then ruling AIADMK, the common man went about his day's work. Be it the DMK and TMC headquarters in 1996, or the AIADMK office last year, hardly a few thousand people turned up after the electoral victories, and after bursting crackers, they too dispersed. The era when people used to throng party offices for days on end was truly over.
The recent boom in the electronic media may have brought images to the drawing rooms of the people, but it is paying for that television set and the cable connection that occupies the minds of the Tamilians nowadays.
Higher literacy rate coupled with socio-economic changes ushered in by successive governments have changed the face of rural Tamil Nadu. The entire state is covered by mobile phones. Even rickshaw pullers in Chennai own one to be in touch with 'our clients'. Now students, even from the backward classes, need to score upwards of 90 per cent for medical admissions. Typewriting institute have become computer training centres and there are more STD booths, cyber cafes and pharmacists in rural areas than in most urban centres in other states.
Is it any surprise, then, that the histrionics of the leaders no longer bother the people? In today's Tamil Nadu, politics and politicos can wait. Most of the people have families and careers to think about.
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