JUST SPAMMING | Saturday Political Fever Grips Tamil Nadu

A new political trend that sends many young people and some older ones into a delirium on Saturdays alone has been introduced in the State. It began with a bang at the Tiruchi airport with the trendy youth, waiting to see their icon Vijay, going on a rampage on September 13, though nothing newsworthy happened at the Chennai airport, defying police expectations. While it is not known whether every remaining Saturday in the year till December 20 will continue to witness such hooliganism at some place or the other in the State, it is very much clear that a new political juggernaut has started rolling.

So in the State, known for its quintessential political ideologies and movements with a penchant to stand out of the national mainstream that has thrown up electoral surprises in the past, the newest trend is the Saturday fever. A new political kid on the block with traditional aspirations like becoming the Chief Minister of the State has announced that he will reach out to the people only on Saturdays to seek their votes for the 2026 Assembly elections. While the polls are more than 6 months away, election fever has already gripped the State with various leaders embarking on their campaigns, creating a unique scenario.

Without knowing when exactly they will have to walk to the booth to cast their vote, the names of the candidates soliciting their support and the identity of the political parties vying for their backing and what they have to offer, the people have been listening to the cacophony of a faux or premature election campaign for quite some time. With campaign buses crisscrossing the State roads evoking complaints of ambulances disrupting meetings and the shrill harangues piercing the eardrums, the new kid on the block should have come as a whiff of fresh air.

Vijay, the founder president of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagm (TVK), kicked off his campaign in style by walking from the Chennai airport gate to the terminal building to board the private chartered aircraft to reach Trichy. As it is his wont, whenever he travels from Chennai by chartered flights he would disembark at the gates and let his vehicle go away after dropping him unlike the other VIPs who would be driven up to the terminal building entrance. That practice gave waiting media persons, particularly those from the YouTube channels, to get a byte and the surging gathering of fans to get a glimpse of their hero.

But on Saturday, the departure came as a sigh of relief to the security agencies since the usual crowd of supporters did not turn up to see him off and averted the usual stampede like situation, though the arrival at Tiruchi was chaotic with the waiting fans and followers breaking barricades and storming the premises. Of course, there is nothing strange about the behavior of the mob of acolytes. Right from the founding of the party at Vikravandi on February 2, 2024, the State has been witnessing the same supporters in action.

Maybe someone will come up with an explanation that they are restless because they brim with a verve and desire to bring about a change in Tamil Nadu. Fair enough. They have every right to elect the person of their choice – if they have crossed the voting age of 18 years – and usher in the governance that they aspire for when the elections come. But should they have a free run till elections come? Even their party (TVK) high command felt the need to rein them in and issued a set of interesting instructions that made one wonder if it was a democratic party whose events were attended by normal human beings.

One of the instructions was for pregnant women, mothers with infants in hand, elders, people who are ill, the differently abled and children to keep off the meeting venue and watch the proceedings on the television from their home. Was not the party high command indirectly saying that their meetings are prone to violence, stampede and ill behavior that they would not be safe for vulnerable sections of society?

Some other instructions also suggest that the people they were expecting at their meetings were just boorish elements with no sense of etiquette and discipline. Because the first of the instructions was ‘do not follow the vehicle of our leader in two-wheelers or other vehicles when he comes in or goes out of the venue.’ Another instruction was rather funny for it treated the party supporters to be naïve and prone to endanger themselves because of that.

It urged the cadre to not go near lampposts, electricity poles and transformers in the vicinity of the meeting venues, suggesting that the party high command thinks that their cadre know nothing about the dangers of electricity installations but only know that voting for Vijay and his TVK was a right thing to do for the State. Another instruction, however, had a sinister undertone. It said that all the people attending the meetings addressed by Vijay were ‘our brothers and sisters’ and hence no one should hurt the sentiments of others.

Did the need to specify ‘brother and sisters’ and issue the particular instruction to not hurt the sentiments of others through their words and actions arose from past experiences? If so, the TVK is admitting that its cadre base comprises mostly of roguish, unruly, boisterous, undisciplined individuals.