Time for a cleanse-all drug

While watching Anurag Kashyap’s much acclaimed film ‘Udta Punjab’ a year ago, none in Hyderabad might have imagined that another drug drama would be undraped in tinsel town closer home, not on screen but very much inside the dark alley of entertainment industry.

A dozen film personalities, including two women, are being grilled by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), with each interrogation session lasting for several hours, letting slip more secrets and indicating the presence of a large, well-knit network peddling drugs in the inner realm of society.

Television channels, newspapers and social media have been working overtime, bringing more interesting and intriguing stories. On its part, Tollywood seems to be watching unfolding of the sordid drama, keeping its fingers crossed.

Allegations and counter-allegations have been flying thick and fast. The young officer, who is investigating the case, has been receiving threatening calls, ostensibly from people with an African accent, indicating the width of the racket.

The government appears to be hell-bent on putting an end to the menace, though it could divert the public attention from the drug racket’s tryst with corporate schools in the State capital for reasons best known to it.

Interestingly, the upright officer, who is probing the case, was initially asked to go on leave, despite the fact that his better half, another assiduous civil servant, holds a very important position in the Chief Minister’s Office.

But when the media and political parties made a hue and cry over the apparent move of the powers-that-be to derail the investigation, the wily leaders retracted.

The three-year-old government, with its colossal failure to keep its pre-poll promises and mired in innumerable controversies including some of its party leaders rendezvous’ with a slain gangster, rampant corruption at all levels, misuse of bureaucracy, appointment of wrong people in corporations and other government bodies, forceful acquirement of farmlands rendering thousands of farmers across the State hapless, construction of unscientific irrigation projects, battered roads, arrests of farmers who were agitating for their fair share of price for their produce and a huge land scam that was unearthed recently, has been on a damage-control exercise to save its image.

Somewhere, one smells a rat after watching the hurried and intensified probe into the drug racket and the government’s bid to divert the investigation to safer routes. A similar exercise was done in past, when Anurag Kashyap was aghast to find that that his drug-drama went under a whopping 90 cuts by the Censor Board.

Given the fact that Punjab, with a government headed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ally which was facing elections, the Censor Board chief who was close to the BJP making indiscriminate cuts to the film that involved some of the Bollywood’s best talents, is understandable. The valiant filmmaker, unlike those who buckle down under pressure, dared the establishment and took the batle to courts.

His defiance paid-off as the Bombay High Court passed a judgement allowing the film to be released with only a single cut. That was victory for freedom of speech! The ‘involvement’ of some leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) is being debated from the time a few reacted sharply to remarks made by veteran Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

Diggy tweeted about the involvement of some friends of KT Rama Rao in the drug ring. However, with all omens turning out to be unpleasant for the government, the latest drug case is just an addition. The situation is quite taxing for the State Government. While millions of farmers across the State are feeling ‘betrayed’ by the TRS-led government, students, youth and a whole lot of organised and unorganised sectors are undergoing agony thrust upon by the government’s thoughtlessness.

However, it is better late than never for Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who himself is a master strategist, to set things right. Public memory is short and they surely will forgive and forget whatever has been done. With no strong Opposition to challenge it in the State, it is easy for it to attract public affection that has apparently turned hostile since the formulation of Telangana State.

Everyone is aware that most of the MLAs, who swiched loyalties and defected into the TRS from other parties, did not do for any love for the people. They did it for bagging plum posts and contracts, Quite apparently, they must be operennially on the lookout for greener pastures. Coups in political corridors are nothing new in this part of the world. Perhaps, the déjà vu moment will come when someone discovers a drug that can cure the social maladies, once and for all. Eureka!

By Payam Sudhakaran