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        It is no surprise when politicos seek to hunt with their fellow political hounds. Little else could be expected of them in a milieu where principles are irrelevant and power at all cost is the goal. But it is when they attempt to run with the hares, the people, too, that the duplicity hurts. Several instances of political hounds pretending as part of the helpless hares are rife of late.

        The most striking exhibition of double standards have predictably come from the pastmasters in public posturing passing off as champions of the poor, namely, the Communists. Indeed, it is going to need a lot of dialectics on their part to explain the mounting deadbody count of the poor and the flood of innocent blood in Bengal. For them, everywhere in India, big business and FDI are taboo and always deemed anti-poor. But not so in Bengal and Kerala, where the comrades rule. In these two States, they would roll out the 'Red' carpet for the 'exploiting classes', both desi and videshi alike, even if it means gunning down a few comrades from the under-classes or grabbing their possessions. A class double-act indeed.

        Again, Left activists are the most vocal about democracy, rule of law, human rights and such other things, appropriating those megaphones on the slightest pretext or provocation. Brinda Karat of the CPI(M), for instance, is all set to enter the Guinness, for holding the maximum number of demonstrations on the maximum number of issues, 'on behalf of the people'. But such 'Karat and stick' treatments are targetted only at political opponents. Would she and her ilk, now care to raise the red flag and rally the nation, as they often do in Gujarat and elsewhere, to protest the violence against and violations of basic living rights of the poor in their own home state, ruled by their very own revolutionary comrades? No whispers, let alone noisy demos, either, about rule of law or democracy when Leftist outlaws keep mowing down cops and armymen in Bihar or Chattisgarh or when Left MPs imitate boxers inside Parliament. The otherwise busy Devil's workshops, Politbureaus, would promptly strike work and scoot when such embarrassments stare. The hares should, at least now, know where the 'red'-hounds stand!

        The Congress practises its own brand of Hound-Hare politics. Its Indian-Made-Foreign-Leader (IMFL), possessing saintly instincts besides intermittent inner voices, is a pious rabbit that can mean or do no harm. Or so the sacred story goes! So how does she insulate herself when her pet puppet, the PM of India and her pocket-party that heads the ruling coalition, are confronted by unpopular decisions? Simple: the Signora writes letters expressing her pro-people leanings, say by opposing FDI in retail or concern on rising fuel costs etc. These letters are leaked to the media and lo, the whole world comes to know what a saint she is. The Government, of course, does what has to be done. If it heeds Soniaji, all credit to her. If not, then at least, the saint stands saved by virtue of those letters! The hunt and run charade goes on...

        In TN, forked tongues are a rationalist legacy. A timely and apt one-liner in chaste Tamil is enough to blur the difference between hares and hounds. And the hare-hound syndrome is now a literal, rather, literary truth. The CM, of late, sends press releases to media, not as statements. Instead, they come in a Q & A format. Needless to say, the CM asks the questions and himself answers them. Of course, it does hurt the self-respect of journos to be shown up as incapable of even thinking up rational questions, but it also speaks volumes of the respect the CM has for his 'self' not to speak of his self-delusions. But there was a rationalist high point recently: In one such press release, the CM raises a question and the answer is a 'smirky' silence? Now why did he raise the question in the first place if he was not going to answer it? Only the ultimate rationalist knows. But the trend is a fair indication of the felicity with which dual roles are performed in TN.

        Double-talk on virtually every issue is rampant here with no concern for consistency. When the Cauvery tribunal award was announced, the CM played the hare first by expressing satisfaction and even defending it. Jayalalithaa expectedly hounded him for compromising TN's interests and even said the award should be rejected. Now, after more than a month of politicking the current positions are: the CM appears to have decided to appeal against the award while Jayalalithaa is planning fasts to insist on Gazetting the same! Clearly, neither are with the people, but committed only to take the opposite view of the other. As J and K split hairs, the hares, however, seem united in despair: water remains a pipe dream!

        Not a day passes without Dr Ramadoss firing salvos at the DMK, with his acid tongue spewing trenchant criticism and sinister sarcasm. Yet, neither would the self-respecting CM say 'enough is enough' nor will the Doctor walk out of the alliance. At the national level, all the allies in the DPA would jointly and severally count themselves with the hares on a host of issues like Sri Lanka, fishermen killing, price rise, Cauvery etc, but would all stop short of calling it quits, choosing to remain with the pack of hounds.

        The hunter may have no qualms in posing like the hunted for the sake of political and commercial spoils. But it does play spoil sport for the hares to have the hounds championing their causes. In Nandigram, for instance, media reports claim that the locals are hardly visible, while the place is swarming with political activists. Similarly, how many farmer-leaders from the Delta are known in the public sphere on the Cauvery tangle? On most issues, the true stakeholders are never in the picture, even as the hounds hijack the limelight. And worse, the issues, instead of getting resolved reach points of no return owing to the politicking. So, while the political hounds like Brinda Karat would have enhanced their CVs for better political prospects, the hares would be left scratching empty pots or counting corpses!

        Moral of the story: Hares that allow hounds to run in their midst end up in the latter's stomach!