The unbearable stench of political sycophancy

CHENNAI: There is no dearth for the good old stink in Singara Chennai. We have two large dump yards in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, making life an ordeal for those living in the vicinity. Promises by consecutive governments to make them vanish, have well…vanished into thin air!

You have the Cooum and Adyar rivers that have been carriers of sewage for a long time now. River restoration projects are a joke, to say the least. Public toilets and Uncleared garbage bins stink. At times, even our roads stink with overflowing sewage. The reprehensible behaviour of employing manual scavenging stinks.

But, the stench of sycophancy is an unbearble assault on the senses. Sample this: On the day the bodies of college student Sathya and her father were supposed to be taken home from the police quarters in Alandur, overzealous party workers and supporters of DMK legislator, TM Anbarasan, ensured that the small lane leading to the quarters was cleaned thoroughly.

Conservancy staff were seen cleaning up the overflowing garbage bin right outside the police quarters. Even the puddles of water were removed. While an urgent clean-up of an area or neighbourhood is common whenever these ‘VIPs’ visit, the was appalling.

For the uninitiated, Sathya was a college student who was pushed to death in front of a train by her stalker and within hours, her father died by suicide.

— Srikkanth Dasarathy, Chennai