As the economic lifeline that sustains Tamil Nadu’s agrarian economy, the Cauvery justifiably exerts an outsized influence in the cultural mindspace of the people of the State. And given the sense of aggrievement that has built up over decades, arising from the dispute with neighbouring Karnataka over the sharing of the riverine resource, the Cauvery’s placid waters have progressively been muddied by the ceaseless churn of politics. The latest flashpoint, triggered by the ongoing case in the Supreme Court, relates to the demand for the establishment by the Centre of a Cauvery Water Management Board and Monitoring Authority to ensure monthly releases of water. The perception that the NDA government at the Centre is dragging its feet given the proximity of the Karnataka Assembly election has sharpened the political edge.
All this, of course, represents ‘politics as usual’. But what infuses an additional twist of cynicism to this tug-of-war is the ridiculous targeting of the local IPL cricketing franchise, the Chennai Super Kings, by the competitive politics of opportunism, with demands that the IPL matches in Chennai be scrapped. What started off as extreme inflammatory posturing by fringe political groups has since been ‘mainstreamed’, with virtually every political formation clambering onto this show-stopping bandwagon. The AIADMK government has cravenly capitulated in the face of this politics of brinkmanship; a senior Minister even counselled IPL authorities to consider calling off the matches. All this amounts to wholesale abdication of constitutional authority. Tamil Nadu’s case for a fair share of the Cauvery waters isn’t advanced by picking on soft targets such as cricket. What the inflamed political hotheads need is a cold dunking, preferably with bucketsful of Cauvery water, to induce a modicum of rationality in their approach to this admittedly serious issue.
Venky Vembu Associate Editor