In asking the youthful Communications Minister Shri Maran to put in his papers the politically potent DMK Supremo Kalaingar Karunanidhi stands dwarfed before the politically orphaned Maran. Mr. Maran has lost not only the minister-ship but also his bright future in Dravida politics. A promising political future seems to have been cut short unmercifully primarily due to political envy and his increasing political clout at the centre. Apart from the son-daughter duo of Karunanidhi even the senior DMK leaders were unable to stomach the “undue” importance he has been receiving as the Man Friday of Karunanidhi in
Dravida Parties. For Maran, It will be politically very difficult to survive once the Kalaingar has expressed his preference for his children to the nephew. The political observers are curious to know if Jayalalithaa will show political savvy to roll a red-carpet welcome for Maran who has been demonstrating political expediency par excellence in for quite some time.
As minister, the performance of Mr. Maran will be remembered for a long time to come. He has displayed that with novel plans the Indian Telecommunication Sector can deliver the goods to the envy of the entire world. Who other than Mr. Maran could have imagined an STD call for a mere one rupee from the state-run BSNL? He had the managerial guts to reduce drastically, if not to naught, the roaming charges, which is now the major revenue source of the Telecom Majors. One important achievement the entire media had missed about Mr. Maran is his sparkling contributions towards Indianisation of the open source software in Indian Languages during the last three years. Adieu Mr. Maran.
