THE AUTUMN OF THE PATRIARCH

An aggressive bunch armed with sticks throwing chairs all over the place. After the mayhem they make good their escape, save one. And the one aggressor who was unlucky enough to be caught is beaten black and blue, as news channels have a field day. The women shown in the images are no less active, using their chappals to devastating effect, as the former aggressor takes blows all over.

These are not visuals of mob violence from Bihar or the Hindi heartland. Instead they come straight from urban Kochi in Kerala. The protagonists being two marginalised political groups - one being the supporters of an ageing father past his prime and the initial aggressors apparently supporters of his 'estranged' son.

K Karunakaran and son K Muraleedharan have been at daggers drawn in public the past few days. The father talking of a return to the Congress, while the son rejected the idea. The Kochi melee merely added violence to the war of words.

It's still difficult to believe that the 89-year old politician who's striving desperately to come out of political irrelevance, and his son, who he's tried desperately to prop up all these years, are at loggerheads. It's not the first time they've spoken in different voices, publicly at least, only to come together. Net result of the violence, Karunakaran's got some attention while some foot soldiers got a few hefty blows.

It's sad that the 'Leader', who once reigned supreme in the state Congress, is reduced to such a pitiable state that he has to invite himself back to the parent party. And the Congress is not exactly welcoming him with open arms.

And son Muraleedharan, whose advances in politics coincided with the decline of his father's influence, has been pushed to a corner. His last few electoral attempts have left him red-faced and he seems condemned to the fringes as no more than a bit player in either the UDF or the LDF. Unless of course the father manages to get him back to the parent party. For inspiration, Karunakaran just needs to look up on an India map. He'll find a certain H D Deve Gowda right above his state.