THIRUVANATHAPURAM: ‘’Oy! Tell those drummers to shut up,’’ hollered the dapper Congressman perched atop the low wall. Then more as an angry aside - ‘’Six more minutes to go! You won’t hear a single word if they start drumming.’’ The dismayed drummers, four teenagers hired by the V S Sivakumar camp, subsided. After May 18 - when the first batch of Ministers was sworn in - the spectator-tribe seemed to have lost some steam, still, Monday evening saw a sizable crowd around the Raj Bhavan to witness 13 more Ministers of the fledgling Oommen Chandy Cabinet take their oaths of office. Partymen had taken over the Kowdiar road, congregating at the two gates of the Governor’s Residence, and as if by design, Congressmen at the south gate and the IUML men at the north. At both places, large digital LED screens were erected for the public to view the goings-on inside. By 3.45 pm, a long queue had formed at the north gate, where pass-holders were being filtered into the Raj Bhavan campus. ‘’Let’s see if we can get a pass. He said he would get one for us,’’ a hefty-looking IUML man, green flag and all, was heard placating his comrades. There was some unpleasantness after some 50-or-so supporters of Adoor Prakash pushed through the queue in a bid to enter. They failed miserably. Meanwhile, a beaming Union Minister of State Mullappally Ramachandran was shown on screen greeting Abdussamad Samadani, and some moments later, the Governor was announced. The first Minister to go on stage, P K Abdu Rabb, was greeted with cheers out on the road. Then silence descended, as Rabb - the Education Minister - took the oath of office. The drummers satisfied themselves with a hasty rat-a-tat. An ecstatic clutch of supporters took out a short march as Aryadan Mohammed read out his oath with some rhythmic improvisations. ‘’Aaryaada nethave, dheerathayode nayicholu! Laksham laksham pinnale!’’ When C N Balakrishnan was announced, his supporters did a quick jig; ‘’Thrissurinte puthrane! Congressinte adiththaraye!’’ Vendors too had a field day. Hundreds of cups of tea and coffee were sold out in minutes. One man was even seen doling out large spoonfuls of pulpy watermelon juice. But 4.45 pm, the ceremony ended and the crowd gathered at the main gate to welcome the Ministers. One man appeared content - J Vasant Kumar of Aishwarya Event who had set up the LED screens. His Chennai-based company had erected the screens for the swearing-in ceremony of the Jayalalithaa Cabinet also. ‘’Today, we put up three here, same as on the 18th. For Jayalalithaa’s we installed six screens all along the Marina Beach. But here the crowd is so thin. In Chennai, there was a major roadblock!’’
Comments
0 comment