Form of words:
New Delhi: Tamil superstar Vijay, 47, fondly called overcast (young commander) successfully entered politics by the number of his fans, without campaigning or contesting elections.
In the Tamil Nadu rural local body elections last week, his fan club – All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam – recorded At a strike rate of 68 per cent, it won 115 of the 169 seats.
While the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the elections, grabbing over 27,000 seats, Vijay’s fan club made its political debut, better done Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Nidhi Maiyam, Pattali Makkal Katchi, actor Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) – are all established parties in the state.
This was the first time the actor had given his fan club office bearers consent to contest elections in his name.
In early September, Victory Was taken to court Against 11 people, including his parents and members of his fan club, for using his name and pictures during the election. In November last year, the actor also issued a statement When his father registered ‘All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ as a political party with the Election Commission of India. He had then said, “I inform my fans and the public that there is no direct or indirect connection between the political party started by my father and me.”
In less than a year, the actor agreed to contest the election under the same party as his name and even used two main criteria for candidate selection – “educated youth” and “equal representation to women”. booked up.
Bassi Anand of Thalapathy general secretary Vijay Makkal Ayakkam told ThePrint that the results were not unexpected as the party had earned a lot of goodwill. overcast Names, especially during the covid lockdown.
Detailing the list of works done, Anand said, during the pandemic, in 10 districts including Salem, Thanjavur, Chennai, Tiruvallur and Trichy, fan clubs provided free breakfast and ration to people, sanitisers and medicines. , and even arranged oxygen for the needy.
“It was all done in” overcast Name. All the cadres did a great job,” he said. “Vijay Makkal Iyakkam is there for the last 27 years and for about 20-22 years we are giving free sarees, dhoti etc. in the name of Vijay.”
Anand said that all the members of the fan club campaigned from door to door. overcast Name and your photo as well as used a flag with your name and image.
The party’s Kancheepuram unit chief ECR Saravanan said the actor’s popularity helped in the election. “Vijay’s popularity and he works and fights for the rights of Dalits, that works in our favour,” he said.
Vijay, a film icon in Tamil cinema, is an actor, playback singer and philanthropist, who started out as a child artist.
Extremely popular among youth, in 2014 they were most googled Tamil actors, surpassing Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. Last year, he posted a selfie which held the record for having the most retweeted Photo of the year in India.
He has played lead roles in over 60 films, achieving much commercial success in India and abroad.
His fan club with over 10 lakh members campaigned in his name. Though he has not officially contested the election, the actor had extended support to the anti-Sterlite movement and victims of alleged police excesses in protest against NEET.
Although Anand himself was very cautious about Vijay joining politics and contesting elections, saying that it is for the actor to decide, the local units of the superstar’s fan club say they refuse him to join politics. will take, saying that this is the natural sequence of events.
Read also: Is DMK asserting itself or still ‘anti-Hindu’? Tamil Nadu’s temple reforms raise political questions
Mainstream parties, analysts also not impressed
However, many people are not very impressed with the success of the fan club. Mainstream political parties are of the view that All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam should not be taken too seriously and only a few smaller parties.
The ruling DMK said it does not attach much importance to the results of Vijay’s fan club.
Speaking to ThePrint, DMK spokesperson A.K. Saravanan said the story was not about the votes won by Vijay’s fan club, but how the DMK won the local body elections and “set a new benchmark under (Chief Minister) MK Stalin’s leadership”.
“We don’t take their results and votes are taken seriously. Smaller parties like Kamal Haasan or PMK or AMMK should pay attention to it. DMK doesn’t give much importance to All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Ayakkam’s results ,” Saravanan said.
Analysts say the fan club has a long way to go and Vijay is trying to have his cake as well.
Ramu Manivannan, professor and head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Madras University, said the fan club results were more about personality, not the party.
“Saying that this is a fan club is not a sufficient political base. If you say this is your party, people can openly challenge you. All this is a double standard,” Manivannan said. “Vijay has shown interest for some time but politics demands sacrifice. For now, he wants to remain in politics without sacrificing himself. He wants to have his cake and eat it too.
He said the fan club contesting in Vijay’s name was a way to increase his market value and capture public space and imagination. “At present, he is only confusing the voters,” he said.
Muthukumar, who heads the political science department at Presidency College in Chennai, said the fan club did well mainly because of the youth, adding that they do not have a proper grassroots infrastructure in the state like established parties like DMK and AIADMK.
“Youth likes either Vijay or Ajith but Ajit is nowhere in politics at present.” Speaking about Vijay’s other counterparts entering the political arena like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, Muthukumar said, in both the cases, the grassroots presence was missing.
Drawing a comparison with MGR and Jayalalithaa, he said that the two former Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu had a very strong grassroots presence, which was a deciding factor in their electoral successes.
“MGR had that charisma and through his films, songs and the kind of films he chose, he made a political connection with the masses. Vijay is also trying to do the same but one has to wait and see if he succeeds; If he decides to join politics officially,” Muthukumar said.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
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