The veteran Tamil politician, K. Kamraj, was known for many things, his political prowess, his “Kamraj plan”, which by asking all Congress ministers to resign and work for the party, sought to redefine what power meant to the party in the ’60s. But Kamraj is most of all remembered for his pet phrase — parkalam (in Tamil, let’s see). Many decades after the phrase was popularised by Kamraj, it is the dominant theme of what lies ahead in 2009. The phrase is again, most of all, applicable to his home state. With 39 seats, reputed to go “all the way” for some party or the other in recent times, Tamil Nadu would perhaps be the key to deciding who could unlock power in Delhi.

It has been fashionable (and logical) to compare trends in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, two large and politically restless states brimming with thrilling possibilities and a past. Tamil Nadu, in many senses, showed the way. Shortly after 1967 — when the Congress polled about 41 per cent of the vote — there was a precipitous drop in the 1971 assembly elections to about 17 per cent, and the trend continued. It accelerated in the ’80s and ’90s and the two regional parties, the DMK and the AIADMK (formed in 1972 after splitting from the DMK), have split the spoils, reducing the Congress and later the BJP to seeking alliances with who they perceive is winning. Led by the bitterest of foes, both parties having more or less the same “progressive” agenda, this would sound very familiar to all those who have studied the growth of new parties in UP.

... contd.