The decision this morning by the honourable judge brings to close the MIC president G Palanivel vs Registrar of Societies (ROS) saga and allows for new breath of life to be injected back into MIC. In the judgment delivered, the presiding judge, after months of reviewing the facts of the case, had no other option but to conclude that all blame for this fiasco solely rested at the feet of Palanivel as explained in the verdict.

Now that the whole unwarranted episode has ended, I urge Palanivel to immediately resign from all posts held in MIC and hand over the leadership reins to Dr S Subramaniam. This will allow him time to focus on rebuilding and reuniting the party and letting the wounds heal before the next general election.

There is much work to be done with regards to MIC and restoring its image within the community and lots of precious time and focus has already been wasted with this unnecessary court action.

Palanivel should use this short window to make a graceful exit and save what little dignity left. We are allowing him this opportunity in-spite of his shameful behaviour and track record.

The fact remains that he breached article 91 of the MIC constitution by his court actions, ipso facto resulting in the automatic ceasing of his membership in the party. If this were to happen, it will go down in history as the most shameful exit made by any sitting president of a BN component party and MIC will be tarnished forever.

We hope Palanivel’s common sense will prevail as he considers the larger interest of the Indian community and party itself by not allowing the situation to escalate any further.

RAMANAN RAMAKRISHNAN is former MIC treasurer-general.