Did you know that Tamil Nadu politicians love to play god or goddess as the case may be?

You don't have to believe me. Check old media reports. There was screen queen Jayalalitha being depicted as the Virgin Mary. And there was Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the current chief minister of the state, carrying the cross like Jesus Christ after his arrest once.

Sacrilege perhaps! But then these actors and actresses of that low grade Tamil Nadu film industry always played the part of persons they could never be in real life.

Karunanidhi might like to play political god or at least godfather. But it seems that not everyone in the pantheon would like to see an upstart denigrating the deity.

True the Sun God would have smiled upon Karunanidhi for fighting his battles across the waters of the Palk Strait. With the Sun God almost saying his final prayers, if you believe what our government and its several propaganda arms tell us, he sure needed the trumpet calls of Tamil Nadu politicians whose reputation for the abuse and misuse of power is second to none.

Smell of success

So when Karunanidhi threatened to pull his Tamil Nadu troops out of the government in New Delhi the Sun God and his centurions would have burnt more incense and wafted in what they thought was the sweet smell of success.

The other gods watched in puzzled silence as Karunanidhi set a deadline and dared the government in New Delhi to turn a deaf ear to his threats.

Emboldened by Delhi's hasty reaction Karunanidhi decided to call on the people of Tamil Nadu to hold hands and form a human chain of the likes never seen before in the land of the Dravidians.

Enough is enough thought the gods. They who had been blasphemed by the corrupt politicians of Tamil Nadu handed over the task of teaching Karunanidhi a lesson to the weather gods.

While Karunanidhi and his flock were preparing to hold hands like kindergarten kids on their way to an outdoor class the angry weather gods acted. It rained cats and dogs as the saying goes, in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu State. The roads were flooded, schools were closed and anybody who was somebody and didn't have an umbrella stayed at home.

Evil omen

Poor old Karunanidhi. The gods wept, pouring buckets of tears all over Tamil Nadu. So did the Chief Minister; he wept as his political antic came badly unstuck. Was it an evil omen? Had he not consulted the astrologers in Tamil Nadu - of which there are plenty - before he picked the date for hand holding koloppan?

Now the man is planning to resurrect his human chain and get together on another day and hold hands.

A word of warning to those residents of Tamil Nadu who are not as well acquainted as they should be with their Chief Minister and his political retinue. Whoever goes to join the chain should make sure they leave the rings on their fingers behind. One could never be sure could one?

At the end of the day or whenever the chain is delinked be sure to count your fingers. Knowing the things that happen in Tamil Nadu, especially at the airport, and how corrupt the police are and what they will do for a fistful of rupees it is best to be careful than sorry.

It is not only in Sri Lanka that family politics thrives and thrives very well. Karunanidhi in his avowed concern for the Tamil people of this country has said he and his party members and those from other parties that joined the protest would resign from the government Tuesday (28).

Resignation

That would be great of course, and will probably establish a new record for Tamil Nadu. When have politicians, especially those who make vacuous promises, ever resigned particularly when it could bring the whole edifice of political power in Tamil Nadu State come crashing on their own heads?

Just to keep the threat of resignation alive, Karunanidhi's daughter who has a seat in India's upper house gave a post-dated letter of resignation to her father.

Karunanidhi's nephew, a chap called Maran who it seems is being groomed to succeed the aged Chief Minister, has followed suit with his own resignation.

In the next couple of days we will know whether Karunanidhi is going to keep to his word that they would all resign if New Delhi is unable to pressure the Rajapakse government to halt the military offensive against the LTTE and arrange a ceasefire.

The deadline is almost upon us. If the New Delhi government has not acted as  Karunanidhi demanded will he fall on his sword or whatever weapon is used in Tamil Nadu to commit hara kiri and do the decent thing?

Or will he like many politicians such as our own Mervyn Silva find an excuse to wriggle out of the promise? Remember how Mervyn Silva bragged that if (the late) Janaka Perera got more preference votes than a wounded soldier contesting from the ruling party, he would resign from his minister-ship?

Coward

Well Janaka Perera, the old soldier marched on unfazed and got the most votes. Did Mervyn Silva resign? Not on your sweet life. The coward that he was, he said he would only resign if the President tells him to do so which had nothing whatsoever to do with the original wager.

Now that the deadline is almost reached and the government in New Delhi is not likely to do his bidding, will Karunanidhi for all his bravado call it a day or will he do a Mervyn Silva?

If I was a betting man, which I am not, I will bet all the money in Nivard Cabraal's Central Bank to a couple of Chennai masala dosai that come next week Karunanidhi would be still seated in the same chair (which by the way he acquired new when he assumed office two years ago) polishing his dark glasses.