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Politics Vs Opium
 In recent years, Politics and Opium have been seen to be closer than ever before.
The Sarina case has provided plenty of fodder to the media to speculate on the association of opium with some persons connected with the world of politics.
Ganja was seized from Sarina's
houses at Madurai and Chennai. Sarina and her mother were arrested at their Anbu
Nagar residence in Madurai on May 11. The Police claimed that Rs.1.40 crore in cash and 2.5 kg of
Ganja were recovered.
Then started a series of speculative stories in the media that a VIP, whose wife is closely connected to a political VVIP
in Tamil Nadu, had got married to
Sarina recently. The VIP had earlier been publicly reprimanded by the ruling AIADMK which issued press releases several times in the past that no partyman or official should entertain any request from him and that they should not carry out his bidding. There were also rumours in a section of the media that this VIP entertained hopes of taking over the mantle of Chief Ministership if Jayalalithaa had to step down due to any court ruling.
If anything, the disclosures about the ganja seizures and the subtle hints that this VIP was connected to this lady, had gone a long way towards achieving a negative image for this VIP. Indeed, the VIP had to come out with a brief and terse statement that media reports about an involvement with the arrested woman were wrong. Such was the adverse fall-out of media speculation.
Ganja arrests relating to VIPs have not been new in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, a decade ago, the driver of M G Ramachandran, 'Muthu' was arrested allegedly for having possessed opium. Last year, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's former foster son V N Sudhagaran was arrested in a Ganja case. He is now out on bail and keeps a low profile.
 Sarina, who is a post-graduate, has informed the Court that she has nothing to do with the Ganja episode and that the charges are motivated. A group of advocates of the Madurai Bar Association, who have decided to take up the legal battle for
Sarina, have vowed to establish that the case was foisted on “two innocent women, who have no knowledge of Ganja
trafficking. We will appear for poor
Sarina voluntarily”.
Some sections of the media have already tried to portray
Sarina in very poor light, by indulging in character assassination, and virtually finding her guilty even before commencement of the trial.
A daily has come out with details of drug trafficking as if it was an eye-witness to the incidents. It is not known if any politician is behind publication of such reports but there is more to it than meets the eye.
King Pandiya Nedunchezian died in
his court, when he came to know through Kannagi that he had rendered injustice and hanged an innocent person called 'Kovalan'. Even in a monarchy, there were principles that were followed. Alas! Bygone are those days. A web site which exposed certain goings-on in the crucial and sensitive Defence ministry was subjected to CBI investigation. After all, we now have democracy in India which claims to follow the principles of fair play and natural justice.
Harvey
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