Dr. Duggaraju Srinivasa Rao
Tamil politics and Tamil cinema are strongly intertwined for decades. But with the death of MGR, Jayalalitha and Vijayakanth and Kamal Hasan failed as a politician, Rajanikanth political moves not taking off everyone thought that string twining Tamil cinema and politics has broken. Suddenly there came the birth of a new political star in the name of Joseph Vijay, popularly called Dalapathi and Jana Nayakan with his TVK party to carry forward the Tamil cinema and politics. It is this Dalapathi Vijay, the new political star who is in great political demand for friendly alliance with feelers coming from both the national parties-Congress and BJP- and also some sub regional parties as every one see him as a vote catcher and help them to win some seats and make them to flex their political muscle in the ministry formation after the 2026 March/April scheduled assembly elections.
Vijay has overcome the stampede at Salem where near 40 of his supporters lost their lives. His tactical retreat, maintaining silent for some time and then reproaching the effected the families with compensation was seen as good gesture by general Tamil public. His clarity of thought in identifying the DMK as the political opponent and BJP as the ideological opponent is also well received. His commitment to Dravidian ideology will be under test as every part in Tamil Nadu is a pro-Tamil language, culture and whether voter will accept a new Dravidian party is to be seen. While Tamil voter is cautious and surveys suggest significant vote percentage for Vijay, the national parties are after him with a request for seat sharing.
The tilt towards new star Vijay by the Congress party is evident from the meeting the party data analyst wing in-charge Praveen Chakravarthy had with Vijay barely after two days of Tamil Nadu party in-charge Girish Chodankar met DMK chief M.K. Stalin on the seat sharing issue. Apparently the Congress leaders are unhappy to be without ministerial posts for almost six decades in Tamil Nadu, despite them being electoral partners while the DMK MPs are getting the ministerial responsibilities at the Centre whenever UPA formed the government. Congress general secretary Manikyam Tagore, the votary of sharing power, retort that Congress being a national party can’t be subordinate to a regional party is relatively strong and unexpected. The break from DMK, if it happens, the Congress higher ups know is the end of I.N.D.I.A formation with the other regional parties-RJD, SP, JMM, TMC-making their own calculations post Bihar defeat. Local Tamil Congress leader in their eagerness for some ministries are cutting at the very basis of anti-BJP formation. Will the party high-command is ready for such an eventuality or the current pro-Vijay tilt is arm twisting Stalin to concede few more assembly seats. At present DMK is not ready to concede only 20 seats while Congress is demanding 40 seats.
BJP, on the other hand, is worried about its repeated failed attempts to breach Dravidian fort and is looking for a way to touch the heart of Tamil voters. The BJP’s familiar tactic, employed successfully in other states, of playing second fiddle for a regional party initially and then manipulating the politics to its advantage after the initial entry through piggy ride. This time around it put aside the popular party chief Annamalai, as he is a proponent of solo fight for BJP. However the unseating DMK, the ultimate goal of BJP, may not come true unless as many sub-regional parties are brought on to the anti-DMK platform. It is with this objective that feelers are being sent to Vijay for tacit understanding.
Cine hero turned politician Vijay is under severe pressure post the case filed against him in Salem stampede incident. His apparently last film produced with political campaign in mind, Jan Nayagan is facing trouble in clearing censor board. Vijay was summoned to Delhi by CBI for questioning and many belief it is pressure tactic to make Vijay to tilt saffron way. Such a saffron tilt by Vijay is detrimental to his political progress as any such move will be utilized by DMK to hit Vijay as a facilitator of northern, pro-Hindi party into Dravidian land. Any pro-BJP move by Vijay will also send Congress to back to DMK.
Both BJP and Vijay must me aware of this situation and BJP’s real intention is not allow Congress to align with Vijay, which will automatically result in tussle for seat sharing between long standing friendship of Congress-DMK. Stalin is also under strain as his party suffers from anti-incumbency and Vijay is a potential strong contender for power. A good Tamil drama waits in the coming months and post-election situation will be juicier.
