DIC(K)

Guys, look at the headline of this report appearing in a self-proclaimed national newspaper and decide whether the sub-editor in question is just being cheeky or is plain ignorant or is simply the kind who plays it safe by condensing the intro into a headline. Or is it just my mind which is being dirty? If that's the case, I am not to be blamed alone, for a friend passed this on to me. And that friend had it passed on by a friend of his.

If anyone is to blame, it is former Congress stalwart in Kerala, K Karunakaran. Couldn't he have thought of a better name for his breakaway party which didn't abbreviate as DIC(K) -- Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran)? As a sub-editor, I would find the bracketted 'K' to be highly suggestive and would avoid using the acronym in the headline. But Karunakaran is no sub-editor: he doesn't care what his party looks like or sounds like as long as he is able to thumb his nose at the Congress. Well, the DIC(K) thumbed its nose, and in retaliation the Congress hardened its stand. Now one doesn't expect DIC(K) to turn soft because of the Congress' hardened stand: that would take the fun out of Kerala's politics in the run up to the Assembly elections.

I wonder if Karunakaran and his son Muraleedharan are aware of the jokes (cracked and, perhaps invented, by Malayalam journalists working out of Delhi) that are rampant about their DIC(K): no, the jokes were invented long before they invented the new party.