THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-August 19, 2017- Topic 1

Inquiry into Jayalalithaa's death: Politics of probe

In ordering a judicial inquiry into the circumstances leading to the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has adopted a political response to a political demand. There is little doubt that Jayalalithaa received the best possible medical treatment when hospitalised. However, the purpose of ordering an inquiry is to satisfy one of the three conditions put forward by the faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the AIADMK (PTA) led by O. Panneerselvam, for a merger. 

Having first removed V.K. Sasikala’s nephew, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, as the party’s deputy general secretary, Mr. Palaniswami fulfilled another condition set by the faction, by declaring Jayalalithaa’s residence a public memorial. These demands were a cover for backroom bargaining on ministerial berths and party posts. But by acceding to them, Mr. Palaniswami seems to have put the pressure back on Mr. Panneerselvam to move towards a merger. The larger purpose behind the AIADMK (PTA)’s demands was to force the ruling AIADMK faction, the AIADMK (Amma), to distance itself from the Sasikala family. Now, at least for public consumption the AIADMK (Amma) seems to have done so in the interest of the merger (to pave the way for the retrieval of the Two Leaves election symbol), and to maintain good relations with the BJP-led government at the Centre.

By all accounts, the BJP wants the two factions to merge, and it can be expected to put added pressure on the AIADMK (PTA) to do so. In any case, Mr. Panneerselvam no longer can hope to be recognised as the sole inheritor of Jayalalithaa’s political legacy. MLAs in his camp are tired of waiting it out without the benefits of being in office. If his demand for a judicial inquiry into Jayalalithaa’s death is to yield real political dividends, then the inquiry would have to point to some shortcomings on the part of Sasikala in administering good care during the days immediately before hospitalisation. Some of the leaders in his faction have been asking for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, perhaps in the hope that the agency would do the bidding of the Centre. The BJP seems to have opted for a strategy that allows it to deal with a united AIADMK that is beaten into submission as an ally, instead of pushing for a high-risk scenario that would have meant aiding the AIADMK factions to self-destruct and waiting to take up the political space vacated by them. Any other course would have amounted to surrendering the political advantage to the main Opposition party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which lost the Assembly election narrowly last year. Clearly, the BJP is unwilling to sacrifice its short-term political interests in Tamil Nadu in the implementation of a long-term vision.

Vocabulary

Adopt: legally take another's child and bring it up as one's own.

Example: There are many people eager to adopt a baby

Synonyms: take as one's child, be adoptive parents to, take in, take care of

Backroom: a place where secret, administrative, or supporting work is done.

Example: This would lead to weak government and deals in back rooms

Accede: assent or agree to a demand, request, or treaty.

Example: The authorities did not accede to the strikers' demands

Synonyms: agree to, consent to, accept, assent to, acquiesce in, comply with

Consumption: the using up of a resource.

Example: Industrialized countries should reduce their energy consumption

Synonyms: use, using up, utilization, expending, depletion, waste

Retrieval: the process of getting something back from somewhere.

Example: The investigation was completed after the retrieval of plane wreckage

Inheritor: a person who inherits something; an heir.

Example: We are the inheritors of these cultural traditions

Legacy: an amount of money or property left to someone in a will.

Example: Bentham tells the family that they are about to inherit a legacy from a relative.

Synonyms: bequest, inheritance, heritage, endowment, gift, patrimony, settlement

Vacate: leave a place that one previously occupied.

Example: Rooms must be vacated by noon on the last day of your vacation

Synonyms: leave, move out of, evacuate, quit, depart from, abandon, desert

Unwilling: not ready, eager, or prepared to do something.

Example: He was unwilling to take on that responsibility

Synonyms: reluctant, unenthusiastic, hesitant, resistant, grudging