Lionising the indicted — Politics must reconnect with respect for law, propriety.

 In that sense, the two are on different planes. But it is necessary to ask whether the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is no better than some of the Akali factions when they cock a defiant snook at the law. It was left to the General who led Operation Bluestar to express his unhappiness at a memorial being built in memory of those killed by soldiers during Bluestar, since those killed included terrorists and armed separatists.

As for Mr. Raja, he is technically innocent, since no court has declared him guilty, but he has been indicted in no uncertain terms, as a simple reading of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG’s) report on the telecoms scam shows. He twisted the principle of ‘first-come-first-served’ by fixing arbitrary cut-off dates and other criteria in such a manner as to make the ultimate choice of licensees completely arbitrary, and therefore devoid of principle. Even when it came to simple paperwork, he gave licences to companies that did not qualify or were not eligible because they had not given the prescribed information or the prescribed documentation in time. Whether he committed any crime is something that is yet to be determined, as also the question of any quid pro quo. But on the evidence already set forth, it is clear that Mr. Raja is not someone who should be getting lionised by any serious political party, given that his handling of a ministerial portfolio did not set standards worthy of emulation. That the DMK has chosen to lionise such a person tells the country that politics in Tamil Nadu is as disconnected from propriety as it is in Punjab.