Lok Paritran - Much ado?

I was waiting for it to become official. Which it is now: The Lok Paritran has split. It is, going by the version of the splinter group, a brahmin-non-brahmin split in the party.

The splinter group, headed by Anna Nagar candidate Rajamany, and comprising Ilanthirumaran and Ishrayel Maheshwar, have accused the original party of being "non-secular (read anti-non brahmin), arrogant, high handed and utterly non-transparent."

To be fair, I have to say the splinter group itself is not impressive: Rajamany raves a lot about small personal sleights to himself and the lack of media attention on a man who has won over 11,000 votes. ( It is relevant to mention here that one reason why such an insignificant, ranting man has secured so many votes is probably because he had Captain Vijayakanth's symbol (the drums) in Anna NAgar.) The others are rather angry, but incoherent when they talk of the 'corruption and autocratic attitude of the key members of the original training."

There are some elements, however, if you sift through their rants, that you believe must be answered by the Lok Paritran:

* Decisions have been taken in an ad hoc manner, by the top leadership of the party without consulting the so called STate Leaders (Rajamany, Ilanthirumaran, who claim they were deseated without participative consultation after the polls.
* When I met Tanmay Rajpurohit (national president), he said the organisation would distribute the funds it collected by way of donation among all its seven candidates. He also said candidates would have to pitch in with their own funds. Splinter group claims that no funds were given to them. All was spent in Mylapore.
* So far no accounts have been presented to the other STate members.
* Ilanthirumaran claims that volunteers were asked to campaign only in Mylapore and actually restrained from campaigning elsewhere.
* There is a website that is being bandied about claiming that Purohit is a fascist. I'm not too impressed with the website, it is another rant, unsubstantive and full of bile. Besides, we know that with blogspot, anyone can create a website to say anything he wants about people he does not like. YET, I think it is time for Purohit to respond, to clarify his ideology, clarify what people are calling his pro-brahmin stand. Individuals can afford to ignore vitriolic websites, people in public life cannot.
* Are there similar objections to the party leadership in any other part of the country?

However,unconnected with all the above, the fact that these budding 'leaders' were unable to keep their stock together, is indicative of their capacities. Would you want them to govern you? Participation is a method that leaders use to keep the group together - in politics, it is not democracy, but a tool of control.

The one reason I did think that the LP was a good idea this elections was because in a true spirit of democracy, I believed anyone attempting to make a difference must be given an even chance.

Like I said earlier, damn them if they don't deliver after the elections. But it seems we don't have to do any damning. They seem to be doing a fairly good job of it themselves. Talk about being self-destructive, eh?

On the flip side,it indeed augurs well for their political future that the party has split within months of its inception in the State! What say, Hari?