Actor-turned-politician Chandrasekaran Joseph Vijay has emerged as the flavour of the poll season in Tamil Nadu, leveraging his celebrity status to appeal to youths and positioning his fledgling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as the principal challenger to the DMK, turning the state’s traditionally binary politics into a multi-cornered contest.
A popular fodder for meme makers and a hot-button topic dominating the election chatter, Vijay’s party has amassed a substantial following of under-30 voters who constitute more than 31 per cent of the electorate in the state.
Vijay and Ajith were Tamil cinema’s two reigning stars from the late 90s till the Covid-19 pandemic. The transition from the silver screen to the mobile screen has significantly altered the nature of stardom that Vijay and Ajith or Rajinikanth or MGR before them used to savour.
Almost like actress Simran in the climax of Vijay’s 1999 romantic blockbuster Thuladha Manamum Thullum, a young woman ran barefoot after his convoy near the Valluvar Kottam monument, sobbing for having missed a chance to see her hero as kitchen chores kept her occupied.
Thangam (right) with her sister Meena at their eatery outside Vyasarpadi Jiva railway station
A scrum of people had waited for hours outside the monument in Chennai’s Thousand Lights constituency for Vijay’s van to pass by during a roadshow on April 15, with the sun beating down on them. They didn’t budge even when the cops tried to push them back to make way for the convoy.
The crowd shrieked in joy every time a vehicle drove by, assuming it to be Vijay’s. As Vijay approached, a man hoisted his daughter and her teddy bear on his shoulders while a woman video-called her mother for her to catch a glimpse of the star.
“Vijay! Thalapathy (Commander)!” they screamed in unison.
The slogans melted into unintelligible yells as a sunburnt Vijay smiled at them from atop his van.
Ramya and Joseph Regoson — both in their early 20s and colleagues at a BPO — were in the crowd with their friends. “Only I was a Vijay fan. All these people were Ajith’s fans. But we all came here because Thalapathy was coming,” Ramya said.
Both said they supported Vijay because they wanted a change, although they didn’t sound so sure about what change they sought.
“This DMK-AIADMK format must go. Others must also be given a chance, and I think Vijay fans and other young people have already decided to give him a chance,” Regoson said.
For Ramya, “freedom and safety of women” matter the most. The TVK has promised to create a quick-response plainclothes women police unit called Rani Velu Nachiyar Padai to provide security in public places.
“It’s not that I have personally been harassed, but harassment is rampant. Even men sometimes face it in buses. I know that only Vijay can solve this,” Ramya said.
The ruling DMK has struggled to shake off its image of being weak on law and order, despite statistics that show a fall in the number of crimes reported and the government’s “zero tolerance” policy on custodial torture.
The state’s most successful filmstar-politician was three-time undefeated chief minister M.G. Ramachandran,
who split from the DMK to form the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Late actor Vijaykanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, which displaced the DMK as the second-largest party in 2006, and Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam are now in the DMK-led
alliance.
The fledgling TVK has situated itself within the populist and secular discourse of Tamil politics, although it avoids the word “Dravidian” in its name. Vijay is contesting from Perambur in Chennai and Trichy East in central Tamil Nadu.
Street lights barely illuminate the turn outside the Vyasarpadi Jiva railway station in the Perambur Assembly constituency. Tipplers coming out of a nearby liquor shop mill around Thangam’s pushcart for idlis, chicken curry and liver fry. Her two-year-old son Bhuvanesh plays around them. Thangam has a knife tucked under the cart just
in case.
“I feel scared. There is never a policeman in sight, but an eatery like mine can only be profitable near a liquor shop. The DMK keeps reminding us of the free bus travel for women and the Magalir Urimai Thogai (monthly dole for women that the party has promised to hike from ₹1,000 to ₹2,000). Let them fix the streetlights here instead,” Thangam told The Telegraph.
“My father is a cobbler who earns around ₹200 a day. He was in the hospital in 2015 when Amma (Jayalalithaa) was the chief minister. We survived on food from the Amma Canteen (state-subsidised eateries started by the late AIADMK CM, where idlis are still priced at ₹1). We have always voted for the AIADMK. But Amma is not there any more, and I feel that we should give Vijay a chance,” she added.
Vijay’s Christian identity has been flagged as a “bitter truth” by BJP leader H. Raja, but unlike some parts of India, a minority identity is not considered a political disqualification here.
Although the TVK appears to have taken the AIADMK alliance’s place as the DMK bloc’s principal opponent in Chennai, the AIADMK still holds sway in rural areas.
However, the TVK is also making significant inroads in the hinterland.
S. Palraj’s family grows groundnut, paddy and straw on their six-acre plot in Udayarpalayam in the Ariyalur constituency in the Kaveri delta. A former chauffeur in Australia’s Melbourne for two years, Palraj now drives his own cab in Chennai and visits home once in six weeks to help with farming. He is also an active member of Tamil nationalist party Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), which considers slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V. Prabhakaran an icon.
“I like (NTK’s mercurial leader) Seeman because he seems farsighted and understands agriculture in the way no other political party does. After Vijay started his party, some of our members — who were his fans — joined it,” Palraj said.
He wants to vote for the NTK, but appears to be in two minds now that the delimitation bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha.
“Both in Chennai and Ariyalur, I feel the fight is between the DMK and the TVK. The AIADMK alliance has nothing to say on delimitation. Chief minister Stalin is experienced and capable of at least fighting the BJP. Vijay is honest, but I don’t think he can resist the Centre like the DMK,” he added.
Govindammal hangs a coconut wrapped in a sacred cloth and a picture of a dargah at her grocery store outside St Peter’s Church in Perambur.
Asked about the symbols linked to two religions in her shop, a customer said: “All gods work for her.”
Govindammal burst into laughter. “I pray to Jesus in the church as well. I have been running the shop for 10 years since the death of my husband. You need god’s blessings to run a shop in a place like this,” she said.
Asked if the place was unsafe, she said: “From the time we are born, women have to learn how to deal with men.”
Govindammal said she had seen Vijay’s films, but would vote for the DMK.
“They have done more for the people than any government before. Without the government welfare schemes, my daughter and I couldn’t have managed our homes. My granddaughter goes to a government school and speaks English like students of private schools,” she said.
