SEMMOZHIYANA TAMIZH MOZHIYAM??????!!!

I have never had much faith in the Indian government. More so for the Tamilnadu government. In a country known for its multi-party system, Tamilnadu unofficially and inadvertantly follows a two party system with both parties equally hell bent on draining the juice out of Tamilnadu for their own benefit and leaving behind the bagasse for the next party to do the same...

Don't get me wrong. I am not a critic looking for even the smallest opportunity to point a finger at the government. Among the millions who have entirely lost faith in politics, I am one of the very few who still believes that Indian politics still has a chance to redeem itself if only it tries(I know most of you would have started questioning my sanity by now!!). But the publicity gimmick I witnessed recently made me to requestion my beliefs-

The gimmick I am talking about occurred two weeks back.....

I was travelling by bus when I suddenly witnessed a commotion on Mount Road. From a distance all that I could see was a tensed group of onlookers crowding around a government vehicle and a labourer standing on a raised platform emerging from the vehicle. The labourer was using a sickle to cut through something on top of the shop. Sensing the tension in the crowd, I assumed that a fire rescue operation was underway and even took pride(foolishly) in the speed and efficiency with which the operations were being carried out!! I got down for a closer look and the bitter truth dawned on me:

The government was implementing the Tamil Nadu Shops and Establishments Act by demolishing signboards of shops that didn't give prominence to Tamil. Strengthened by the police protection, the labourers carelessly brought down the signboards blissfully oblivious to the damage they were causing to the shop itself. There was more than one case of broken lights and damages to the shop's facade......

MONARCHY IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY!!

Disturbed by this untoward incident, I prepared a list of questions addressed to the Chief Minister. Since the Chief Minister doesn't know me as well as I know him, I have presented the questions here in the hope that one day my blog would be famous(or notorious) enough to come under his scrutiny!!!!!! :)


1) HAS THE TAMIL CULTURE GONE ON VACATION???
Considering that it is the preservation of Tamil that is being harped on, isn't it an irony that the preservation of Tamil comes at the cost of its culture?? Tamil culture is well known for its treatment of guests. A Punjab Singh setting up a dhabdha in Tamil Nadu is a guest to all Tamilians and demolition of his shop banners isn't exactly the type of treatment that he would have been hoping for!!

2)HAVE YOU STUDIED CIVICS??
This heinous act breaches the fundamental rights that every Indian citizen is entitled to -
RIGHT TO FREEDOM: The right to freedom of expression and the right to practice and preserve any language.
RIGHT TO EQUALITY: The demolition of signboards which do not give prominence to Tamil is a discrimination on the basis of language which violates the right to equality.

3)DOESN'T MONEY MATTER??
An unimaginable amount of money has been wasted unnecessarily in this initiative -

SHOPKEEPERS' MONEY: After all the profit margin the shopkeepers' make is their only means of living. The rise in commodity prices and the emergence of supermarkets have already eaten into their profits. Forcing them to display new signboards adds fuel to the fire!! If the government had been so keen on this initiative, it should have set up centers for providing free banners to the shopkeepers. Asking them to do it at their own cost is the last straw. The government labourers ensured that they not only demolished the signboards but also caused enough damage to the shops to add to the shopkeepers' woes.

TAX PAYERS' MONEY: Around ten labourers, six policemen and three vehicles were employed to implement this 'Tamil exploitation' drive. This is just one part of the story. Similar forces were used all over the city. Imagine the amount of money wasted which was initially obtained as tax from the citizens. I wouldn't blame the Indian citizens anymore for searching for loopholes for tax exemption. Considering the use that the tax money is put to, who wouldn't look for a loophole?? There are enough advertisements urging the citizens to pay the taxes properly. The time has come for us to broadcast advertisements urging to make use of the tax money judiciously. For heaven's sake, cant the government prioritize??? There are unpaved roads, scarcity of water and food, lack of proper buses and innumerable other pressing problems to be resolved. I wonder what inconvenience the harmless signboards caused to the layman which forced the government to allocate priority for them over the other problems.


4)DO THE FOOLS RULE OR DO THE RULES FOOL???
Tamil Nadu government is infamous for drafting elaborate laws but failing to implement them. The helmet rule fiasco is a famous example. When the helmet rule was implemented, bikers emptied their pockets buying helmets to comply to the rule only to end up dumping them in the attic. When the government lacks seriousness in implementing such 'life saving' rules, how do they expect the citizens to take such trivial rules seriously??? And I again wonder in what way was this signboards rule more important that forced the government to exhibit the consistency that it lacked while implementing the helmet rule???


DISCLAIMER: You can easily dismiss this post as the envy of a non-Tamilian who is unable to come to terms with the 'progress' that the Tamil language is making. But unfortunately you cant do that...

I am a Tamilian who is unable to come to terms with the plight of Tamil language. It has been forced to depend on shop banners for its preservation and survival!!! Such gimmicks just add to the shopkeepers' woes and expose the vulnerability of the Indian citizens and their inability to question the atrocities committed by the government for the sake of publicity!