JUST SPAMMING | A Political Event That Gave Grist To Trolls

At the second state-level conference of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) held in the outskirts of Madurai last week, founder Vijay ruffled too many feathers of varied hues. But it least surprised political observers at the national and State levels because that seems to be an accepted norm or shall we say ‘the in thing’ in politics. But a greenhorn in politics – he has not yet contested a single election – mockingly addressing a senior politician with half a century experience and has been voted to the Chief Minister’s post as ‘uncle’ will not be acceptable to any civilized or cultured person in any democracy.

So, though an estimated one and a half lakh congregation broke into a rhapsody, cheering non-stop all through the address, whose recorded version runs for one hour and 41 minutes in YouTube channels, it became an easy pick for trolls that went to town jesting over it. High on rhetoric, the entire speech was aimed at telling people that every other political party in the State was decadent and that he had come down to save the State through his honesty. Of course parties have adopted the same technique earlier to capture power in the country at various points of time at different places.

Since villainization, vilification and mockery of rivals are the common tools that modern politicians use to capture the imagination of the people, Vijay resorted to it, perhaps thinking it was a normal thing to do. But it boomeranged on him as the speech – said to be the longest in his short political career – smacked of immaturity to others. Perhaps it was the continuous cheering that egged him to go on and on as he pleased without bothering about political decency or etiquettes.

Whoever advises Vijay on politics – probably there is none worth a mention – seems to have told him that the younger generation of voters in the State were disgusted with the way politics plays out in the State and that they want to change everything upside down. One thing that the new generation hated was the accepted formats in political discourses and other formal occasions. Sick of everything around them, they like to know, at a feast, why hors d’oeuvres should be served before the meal and why one can’t slurp at the soup after finishing everything else.

The younger generation also questions the need to drive on the left side of the road when the right side track is free of traffic. There are many such questions against the accepted norms of society and even political practices that Vijay, the modern day saviour has come to address. May be to usher in change, existing social and political structures have to be demolished and Vijay believes that he can change the society or rather the political culture through his brand of revolution: Not sticking to accepted norms, practices and formats. His fans, too, believe in that - whether they know what the accepted norms are or not - and question the need to comply, which was evident from their short interviews to curious social media enthusiasts and even mainstream media journalists

Perhaps it was that shared belief that prompted Vijay to call Chief Minister M K Stalin as ‘uncle’ at a public meeting. Stalin might not take umbrage at it. Even his followers in the DMK and outside of it might not get offended but what went for a toss in the process was the political culture that has in its quintessential traditions embedded in it. For example, the practice of addressing every single person on a meeting stage by every speaker before actually starting the address. It started when the Dravidian movement was emerging as a new political force and meetings were conducted in every nook and cranny of the State with people sitting at home and listening to the proceedings over the public address system. The practice had been mocked by many sophisticated people in the past.

One political commentator who abhorred that practice of calling out to each and every one on stage by name and their designation was the late Cho Ramasamy who would make clear in his meetings – yes, he held meeting on behalf of his magazine - that speakers would go straight to the point and not start with ‘that man in white shirt and the other one in pink.’ But that practice is said to have been a reason for the growth of the Dravidian parties for that salutation introduced the humble ‘leaders,’ who were otherwise ordinary people moving about in the villages, to those listening to the speeches from their homes. All political parties that came from that tradition still adhere to it and do not see the salutations as a waste of time.

But Vijay sees it as redundant. In fact his conference at Madurai did not even have an agenda prepared in advance because the only focus was on Vijay and his speech. So naturally, Vijay went straight to the point to spell out his aspirations, not bothering about the other nitty-gritties of political decency, which the impatient modern generation might relish. But the troll army that was waiting menacingly to tear him apart found its prey in the self-righteous Vijay, who seems to be under the delusion that everything is wrong with Tamil Nadu and its politics and that he has come to rescue the people.