The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 10, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Reporter's Diary

Amid the stiff battle for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, one factor that literally wore the candidates down was the long electioneering period. Campaign issues and charges traded by rival candidates became increasingly repetitive, leaving the entire electioneering a stale affair as the polling day neared.

Even the visit of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to Tirupur on May 5 was seen as an effort at perking up electioneering towards the final stretch. With the Election Commission fiat curbing display of campaign materials in public places, the parties had very little opportunity to bring about a carnival atmosphere.

This time round, there were serious local issues that confronted the candidates, such as water scarcity. Besides, the two frontline parties- the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India- sparred repeatedly over the industrial situation in Coimbatore.

Party functionaries on both sides admitted that the rival camps became tired owing to the unusually long campaign and could not find any fresh points to assail each other. It appears that the end of campaign itself has brought relief to them.

* * *

With its vigil and pro-active initiatives the Election Commission ensured that walls remained clean, the residents could sleep peacefully beyond 10 p.m and the students never had to encounter the menace of blaring loud speakers. But the protracted electioneering this time witnessed a campaign of all sorts ranging from SMS on cell phones and even phone calls from the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The candidates chose to send appeals on e-mails and even by couriers. Whenever a phone rang, it led to surprise and anxious moments as the residents had the chance to listen to the taped speech of Mr. Vajpayee. There were SMS on mobile from most of the political parties seeking votes. The techno-savvy BJP went a step further mailing the appeal of the Prime Minister to all the e-mail ID's. The candidates even chose to send appeals by courier. On the other hand, there were several organisations like the Coimbatore District Consumers Protective Council and the Coimbatore District Human Rights Council, which organised road shows and urged the electorate to discharge their democratic duty by casting their votes. "Never hesitate to spend an hour nor for standing in the queue for casting your vote."

Government Employees Unions and trade unions were running a door-to-door campaign asking every electorate not to miss this opportunity. The Airtel mobile using its jingle "Express Yourself" had despatched SMS to all its subscribers asking them express their self by casting their vote without fail. There were several advertisements from voluntary organisations and the Election Commission urging the people not to fail in their democratic duty. Many were optimistic that the campaign by voluntary organisations and non-political institutions asking the electorate to vote without fail (but not in favour of anyone) was expected to yield some result leading to a quantum jump in the polling percentage. More citizens taking part in the election process was essential to make the democratic process have more meaning, the campaigners argue.

* * *

THOSE OF us who are not native speakers of English tend to have doubts now and then about whether we are pronouncing words right, or whether we are using the right syntax. Sometimes, we keep our conversation very simple and avoid discussing complicated issues that might require us to pronounce unfamiliar words.

At a national symposium at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham a few days ago, the Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training, J. S. Rajput, said that he had experienced some of the same misgivings the first time he had spoken at an international seminar.

However, to his pleasant surprise, a couple of delegates for whom English was a foreign language, approached him with a request to help them with the language. Still, his misgivings persisted, until he chanced to hear someone remark: "How many Englishmen do you know who can speak perfect Hindi?"

* * *

As one enters Ooty from the Coonoor side a board in English and Tamil on the right side of the road cautions "obey traffic rules-avoid accidents." However according to all those who use the road, be it motorists or pedestrians, it is very difficult to follow traffic rules on the stretch which forms a vital part of the Nagappatinam-Gudalur-Mysore highway running through Ooty town. For the past few years the stretch from Charing Cross to Thalaiattumund has come to be advertised as "a death-trap" by the regular users on account of its deplorable condition.

Ever since a Restricted Sewerage Scheme (RSS) was implemented at a cost of several crores of rupees to `improve' the underground drainage system, the stretch has become dangerous. While the poorly planned and crudely constructed man holes on one side of the road make it risky for motorists to stick to the `right' side of the road, the pedestrians often find themselves in an unenviable position. If they are not `extra' careful they may get run over by vehicles which swerve suddenly to avoid the man holes and they have to move fast in order to avoid being sprayed by the overflowing sewage water. Often, during wet weather, the level part of the road gets flooded leading to chaos.

For the past several years many VIPs and senior officials have been using the stretch but none have thought it fit to set right matters. During the current season also several officials, who came here to conduct `review meetings', zipped up and down the stretch. But none expressed any concern over its condition.

* * *

(Contributions from K.V. Prasad,

V.S. Palaniappan, A.A. Michael Raj in Coimbatore & D. Radhakrishnan in Udhagamandalam)

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