The recent Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu were an example of a major revelation in the conflict between two competing tendencies in politics around the world – the desire for change on the one hand, and the continuity of the party in power on the other, which is generally interpreted as a “pro- or anti-incumbency” factor.
Although there were no strong indications of these factors in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the dominant narratives highlighting party campaigns conveyed a different message and practical realities. While the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) carried out a grassroots campaign to allow party president and Prime Minister MK Stalin to continue in office. The party and its leadership maintained the role and importance of ideology as a driving factor in the state factor, along with another influential narrative that focused on the central-state relationship.
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) campaign – embodied mainly by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – highlighted the anti-incumbency factor, and pushed for a resounding defeat for the NDA.
The wild-card campaign led by actor-politician Vijay Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) called for greater and comprehensive change, calling for an end to the DMK’s alleged inclination towards dynastic politics, along with taking a significant vote share from the AIADMK and Naam Thumzar Katchi (NTK), led by Seeman.
The outcome, which will become clear on May 4, is likely to reveal the depth and shortcomings of this desire for change expressed by the opposition parties, as well as the strength of the DMK’s quest for continuity.
The elections also exposed the chaos, confusion and lack of civic education plaguing a large section of youth in Tamil Nadu. The desire for change, especially among young people, is not an unusual possibility. But the perception of conversion without ideological orientation, lack of development priorities or awareness of federal issues, as well as the cult of cinema among a large section of “Generation Z”, as has been clearly demonstrated in public, are new and dangerous phenomena in Tamil Nadu politics.
In addition, a deep malaise and dissolution within the country’s political culture and party system was also evident in the run-up to polling day. It was not difficult to see the lack of understanding inherent in the scientific view of politics, which was replaced by the enthusiastic assumption that the leader would achieve his accomplishments.
This is an unprecedented phenomenon, which in recent decades has been interpreted as the inextricable link between cinema and politics in Tamil Nadu. But there is more than just the influence of cinema on politics, which calls for a closer look, in terms of the emergence of a “cult culture” and the effects of a “psychopathic” society that does not want to think or act.
The nexus between cinema and politics in the state has been in existence since the early 1960s, owing to the role and influence exercised by the likes of C. N. Annadurai (Anna), Karunanidhi Muthuvel, and M. G. Ramachandran. The split of the DMK in 1972 and the subsequent founding and rise of the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) enhanced the reach and extension of popular cinema into the political system.
Although the DMK continued to maintain the ideological base of the Dravidian movement as its primary party and political agenda over the subsequent decades, it failed to promote political education among the youth.
Above all, the Dravidian parties have failed to encourage student politics and elections across the state due to their fearful perception of student movements shaping up to become a challenge to their supremacy in state politics.
Thus student politics in Tamil Nadu has suffered significant erosion in the last five to six decades. The emergence of the ‘cult of cinema’, coupled with the gradual depoliticization of youth, forms part of the current reality of the conscious attempt by the Dravidian political culture to keep youth out of political discussions. The result is a deteriorating cult film culture and the effects of a psychopathic society, on a scale that was unimaginable even at the height of the “image trap” built around the MGR phenomenon.
As part of this development, two interesting phenomena have emerged in politics and society in Tamil Nadu, despite the obvious discomfort being served by traditional Dravidian heavyweights, like the DMK and AIADMK, both of which are resisting the emerging trend, but failing to check the drifting political currents.
On the other hand, the two national parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress – are closely monitoring the transformations on the ground. The BJP has gone a few steps forward to test the ‘Vijay Factor’ through tacit understanding and outreach to its allies on the ground, which in turn has alerted the traditional Dravidian parties to the possibility of the BJP infiltrating state politics through an intermediary, under unforeseen circumstances like the pending rally memories in Maharashtra.
As of now, electronic voting machines (EVMs) locked in strong rooms across the state are the center of debate that includes both rumor and observation. All that’s left is to wait and see.
Professor Ramu Manivannan is a political scientist, researcher and activist in the fields of education, human rights and sustainable development. He is currently the Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Kurumppalayam Village, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu.
