Beyond Cinema, Beyond Fear

Actor Vijay’s entry into Tamil Nadu electoral politics is expected to open a new path, as he is supported by the youth of Tamil Nadu. His crowd-pulling capacity Jitters every political party. He is the only leader in Tamil Nadu pulling the crowd to his meeting without giving any incentive to the participants. All other political parties, except the left, have to incentivise participants to attend party meetings, primarily with cash. It indicates that the leaders and the parties have lost their charm. Nobody is interested in seeing their own leaders or hearing their speeches. At one point in time, people used to attend the meetings of the parties, in huge numbers, to see the leaders and hear their inflammatory speeches. The meetings were organised in open grounds. There were no road shows and cinematic decorations of the meeting venue, with a huge investment. Very big meetings were organised at a lower cost, as the party meetings were simple and the party workers did many of the activities. In such a way, emotional bonds were created between the parties and the cadres.

In Tamil Nadu, Vijay’s entry, his calculations, and hence all join together to see that the perception that a new significant force is emerging to change the course should not be formed among the public. In such a way, mainstream media has been shaped. Having sensed this, Vijay is firm in his course of action.

There is a question lingering in the minds of many as to why permission is not given to him to hold a rally, and every time his party faces a number of challenges to get permission to conduct road shows. There is an undercurrent working in the ruling establishment and mainstream political parties that if he is allowed to do a road show continuously, a situation will emerge like the Jallikkattu crowd.

Being a popular actor sensed the mood of the youth that they are fed up with the corrupt politics perpetuated in Tamil Nadu in the last fifty years. Most importantly, people have been oriented to digest these corrupt practices in governance. The youth of today not only hate the corrupt practices in politics and governance but also the divisive practices followed by the political parties to divide society. Equally, the youth do not want divisive politics based either on religion or caste. Having sensed this mood, Vijay wants to go it alone without aligning the parties, which are known for corruption and divisive politics.

In the last two months, I had an opportunity to interact with college students, both boys and girls, when I visited ten colleges and three universities in Tamil Nadu in connection with a programme to take the constitution to the doorsteps of the citizens. While interacting with students and the faculty members during the programme, I could sense that Vijay has got a huge following and support base in the educational institutions, not because of the image he has created in the filmdom as MG Ramachandran, but because of the cliental politics practised in Tamil Nadu in the last six decades by the ruling parties. Regularised corrupt practices in governance and administration, and purchasing votes from the poor, made politics costly and democracy a mockery, and as a result, ordinary people, even the middle class, could never dream of becoming members of the Legislative Assembly and Parliament. In such a way, politics becomes costlier.

Spending vast amounts of money on electoral politics to become people’s representatives in the Legislative Assembly and the National Parliament keeps the elected and electors alienated from each other with a wide gap. The deep-rooted malaise in Tamil Nadu politics was well articulated by Seeman, the president of the Naam Tamizhar Party. He also drew the attention of youth, yet he could not reach the level of critical mass. But he created an environment in which the two political parties have spoiled the people through corrupt electoral practices. Vijay could sense the gap between the demand and supply. Seeman cannot win alone, and he needs the support of other parties. But he stood alone in the past elections. He could not reach out to the masses as his penetrating capacity is limited.

Vijay is not making the mistake made by Seeman. His support base is vast, he dismantles the support base of many political parties, and promises to share power with partners, whoever comes to his fold. His support base is broader than that of any other leader in Tamil Nadu. In the recent past, no other leader has had the pulling capacity that Vijay has to pull the crowd. Bringing people by giving money to a political party meeting started during the time of M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalitha.

In the last 30 years, there has been no ideological orientation among the youth, and the political parties have not moved beyond their party corridors. The educational institutions have not allowed any political orientation among the youth; they have not been politically oriented, as if political orientation is against the nation or the political order. As a result, the youth are choked in a politics based on the actors’ political dialogues. Vijay has carefully used this gap. His capacity to reach out to the youth is not limited to Tamil Nadu. It went beyond Tamil Nadu in the uniqueness of his image-building. He will play a role in Kerala politics, something that was not possible for Kerala actors.

He influenced the youth of the poor and marginalised segments of society, and that is why many of the smaller parties that banked on the marginalised youth are jittery. Being a Christian, he consolidated the Hindu youth vote bank and the minorities, and that is why he is keeping away from the BJP. He knows which dialogue will keep the masses together with him, and he does it in a calibrated manner. In 1967, the DMK won the election because of the youth power. In the same way, the AIADMK won the election in 1977 because of the women and the marginalised groups. After that, the Binary politics kept the other national parties as only weak allies. Now his intrusion will bring another binary or multi-polar, depending on his electoral performance, and one has to see a lot more twists in electoral politics in the months to come. Change is inevitable in the 2026 election, which is visible.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute