JUST SPAMMING|Changing Contours and Colours of State Politics

Recent developments in the State’s political firmament, including the launching of a new party christened ‘We the Leaders’ by former BJP leader K Annamalai, point to an apparent change in people’s perceptions on issues relating to governance, policy and ideology and their expected response from politicians and political aspirants. It began with the TVK, started by C Joseph Vijay two years ago. VIjay was then an actor fighting his cases with the censors and others related to the industry. Of course he had his brush with brute political powers, too. Yet when he wanted to launch his own party, it only gave rise to guffaws. Not many gave him a remote chance though he had consistently expressed an interest in politics through his activities and also his film storylines and punch dialogues.

It was the tagline, ‘Time to Lead,’ given to the 2013 action film, ‘Thaliva,’ that landed the film in trouble and the lead actor, Vijay, outside the imposing gates of the Kodanad estate. The hero of the film, accompanied by his father S A Chandrasekar, had to make the trip to Kodanad in the Nilgiris, where the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was holidaying. He had to plead with Jayalalithaa to help in the release of the film. Many of his films had run into similar troubles that he always overcame though the run-ins with the authorities and others clearly indicated that he nursed political aspirations. Still if his foray into the political waters was viewed with skepticism it was because he did not fit into the stereotypic mould, cast for a politician by society, and his nascent party did not have the trappings of a political outfit.

When that party contested the Assembly elections, fielding candidates in all the 234 constituencies, some people voted for it apparently for flimsy and ridiculous reasons like fulfilling the wish of a teenage daughter or primary school going grandson or just out of a sense of anti-incumbency, as they themselves revealed later on. The results made many gasp in disbelief since they themselves, despite voting for the party, had not expected it to emerge as the single largest party. Those who voted for the party with a definite goal and hope of making Vijay the Chief Minister of the State were either first-time voters or those who talked about and wanted a ‘change’ since they were exasperated over the way politicians from the traditional parties were behaving and indulging in corruption unabashedly.

Whatever, the war against the established political system was imagined and spearheaded by the youth brigade with the disillusioned elders just following them. Annamalai’s sudden foray into politics has seemingly been inspired by the success of Vijay, with the help of his youth army, by only spewing venom against the ruling party to attract the voters. In fact Annamalai, too, was attacking the DMK government during his tenure as State president of the BJP. He was also opposed to the AIADMK and wanted his party to not have an alliance with it. To put it otherwise, he was against the Dravidian majors and advocated a political system without ideological bearings – something akin to Vijay’s political orientation.

Since both the leaders, of diverse backgrounds, subscribe to a distinctly apolitical thought they also attract the youth. So, Annamalai, too, would attract young people in droves to his new party even if learned and experienced political pundits dare to describe it as a rudderless ship with no defining principles or ideology. To give it a semblance of a political party, Vijay declared five historic figures as the guiding lights of his party – Periyar E V Ramasamy, B R Ambedkar, K Kamaraj, Velu Nachiyar and Anjalai Ammaiyar. Annamalai might not have to trouble himself with such an exercise as he has already found in A P J Abdul Kalam an ideological icon. He has named his centre for ethics and politics after him.

Unlike Vijay’s five icons, who had displayed traits of leadership in various fronts in their lifetime though are not that popular among the modern youth, Abdul Kalam is someone more relatable to GenZ for he did not have any definite ideology. A space engineer – it is a different matter that many of the rockets that were launched during his era plunged into the Bay of Bengal - he was adept at quoting the Bhagavad Gita at press conferences and making helpless reporters repeat those verses after him. So he became a political icon for the youth of those days. Similarly, Annamalai was hyped as a leader par excellence by many who supported the BJP mainly because he was a former police officer, whatever his service record might actually say. They tried to make people believe that since he had been in the IPS and also young, he would make a good leader and many fell for it.

Since the BJP did not find him to be a leader worth investing in, he was sidelined and forced to wait in the wings. But suddenly he bounced back out of the blue by launching a new party and announcing his plans of contesting the next Assembly elections, pointing to an emerging popular perception that people actually preferred dapper and debonair leaders over those with ideological leanings and grassroots level exposure. True, people fall for the hype and hoopla generated by online propaganda and don't bother about real principles and policies.