By Karan Anand
During the 1960s, the Dravidian movement or the self-respect movement was at its peak and this ultimately led to the meticulous rise of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a Dravidian party, as a political powerhouse in Tamil Nadu. Since then, the Dravidian parties have met with break-aways and have often taken contrasting stands against each other.
Tamil Nadu politics
The seat of power has always remained with one or the other Dravidian party. Another feature of Tamil Nadu politics of the past 50 years has been the role of film stars and their alleviation to a near god-like stature. In 1969, the scriptwriter turned politician, M. Karunanidhi of the DMK became the CM. In 1972, M.G Ramachandran or MGR, who was then a treasurer at DMK and a superstar of the Tamil movie industry, broke away from the DMK and formed his own Dravidian party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). In 1977, MGR became the Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu and held the position until his death in 1988. His death opened the doors for another South Indian superstar, J. Jayalalithaa, who first became the CM in 1991. Since then, the power has shifted back and fro between Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
Following the death of Jayalalithaa on December 5, 2016, and the political inactivity of Karunanidhi due to old age, a political vacuum has been created in Tamil Nadu. Yet again, film stars are the ones who are trying to fill this vacuum. Rajnikanth has already announced a new political party which will contest all the seats in the upcoming assembly elections. Another movie star, Kamal Haasan has also held a press conference with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and has been criticising the BJP government. With two new players set to enter TN politics, the state may be heading towards a new era where a deviation away from the Dravidian parties may finally be possible.
Dravidian nationalism and the anti-Hindi
Traditionally, the people of India can broadly be categorised into Dravidians and Aryans. The people of North India are usually Aryans and the people from South, Dravidians. After independence, the ruling Congress party gave important positions to the Aryans and partly alienating the Dravidians. In 1965, for a number of days, the Hindi language was made the only official language and this infuriated the people from the south as most of them did not know Hindi. The anti-Hindi protests, combined with the fall of popularity of the Congress party, ultimately led to the rise of Dravidian parties to power.
The people from south value their Dravidian identity and culture and like to differentiate it from the north Indian culture. They also hold their language in high respect and do not want to lose it to the Hindi language. This is the reason why supporters of both the DMK and AIADMK take a common stand while condemning the imposition of Hindi.
Politics of freebies
While catering to their Dravidian identity, the Dravidian parties have also been successful in providing various welfare schemes and freebies to the people of TN which have kept them satisfied. Amma canteens, started by the late CM Jayalalithaa, are spread all across Chennai and offer good quality food for as low as 10 rupees. After assuming office again in 2016, Jayalalithaa immediately started giving out freebies she had promised during her election campaign. Free power was given to handloom weavers, free gold to women getting married and free breakfast for government schools. Not only AIADMK, even the DMK has been generous when it comes to freebies. During Karunanidhis last tenure, DMK government spent around Rs 14,626 crores on food subsidies, Rs 3,992 crores on free television sets and Rs 12,000 crores on giving free houses to poor.
The Dravidian parties have always appealed to the Dravidian identity of the people and have offered freebies and welfare schemes. Even though the governance has been questionable and there have been many corruption cases and scams but still the people of TN have been relatively satisfied by the populist schemes provided by the parties and have not look elsewhere till now.
Can Rajnikanth fill the vacuum?
After Jayalalithaas death in 2016 and the political inactivity of Karunanidhi since 2015, TN politics is pleading for a leader. Karunanidhis son, MK Stalin, has been trying to fill that void alongside AIADMKs O Panneerselvam but they clearly lack the charisma and popularity of their predecessors.
This potential for the emergence of a new leader is being looked upon at as an opportunity by a number of people including film stars Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan as well as the BJP. Rajnikanth has already announced his arrival on December 31st, 2017 and Kamal Hassan has also been criticising the AIADMK government. The potential for a third party is there but it will not be easy to dismantle the 50-year-old legacy of the Dravidian parties.
Rajnikanth is known to be close to the BJP and has already voiced his inclination towards one religion and this may be a factor which will go against him. Kamal Hassan has although touched all the right chords but is yet to formally announce his entry. Kamal Hassan and Rajni can still become important players but it will be very difficult for the BJP with their continued focus on the imposition of Hindi. AIADMK is a part of the BJP led NDA and BJP should stick to maintaining cordial relations with AIADMK.
With Jayalalithaa gone, many anti-DMK voters may shift away from AIADMK and Rajnikanth seems to be the obvious choice. Apart from his own massive popularity, the anti-DMK voters will constitute a strong base for Rajni, who seems to be the only one capable enough to emerge victorious against the Dravidian parties.
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