The two dravida parties, AIADMK and DMK have been taking turns ruling Tamil Nadu for almost five decades now. The MGR, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi magic had mesmerized the people of Tamil Nadu for a really long time and they still have very loyal followers. However, in the last one year, I see a fatigue kicking in and a mood for a radical change is slowly creeping in. With the new generation Dravida party leaders not being even close to their predecessors in terms of charisma, people connect and political acumen, a space for a new player in Tamil Nadu politics is building up and BJP seems to be now ready to fill that space with their new firebrand leader in Tamil Nadu – Mr. Annamalai.
Who created this political fatigue in Tamil Nadu? It is the two grand old Dravida parties themselves.
The AIADMK through their double leadership weak strategy gave way to DMK although the prior Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, showed some promise and was almost gaining the acceptance as a well-deserved heir to Jayalalitha’s legacy. Even though there was not much anti-incumbency, their two leader system prevented the party to give their best performance in the 2021 polls with O. Panneerselvam not showing the same zeal as that of EPS. They were short of the finishing line.
AIADMK was looked upon as the better alternative given EPS’s good schemes and collaborative approach with the Centre but DMK used lot of too-good-to-be-true promises including their usual freebie strategy and inched beyond the finishing line leaving AIADMK behind. Tamil Nadu went indifferently with the flow.
DMK’s current rule also doesn’t seem to be setting any radically new narrative. The lofty promise of shutting down TASMAC shops seems to have been pushed under the carpet. The impossible promise of removing NEET exam is just stuck in correspondences to the Governor without any serious appeal to the higher courts.
Ideas like anyone can be a priest in Hindu temples, bulldozing of several Hindu temples in the name of illegal encroachments, HR&CE department wanting to take over the Chidambaram temple administration, some crooks passing really lewd comments on Hindu gods and no serious action seemingly being taken by DMK government, the tiff of DMK with Madurai Adheenam, Dravid Kazhagam (DK) and DMK allies like VCK party commenting on Hindu rituals, Sanskrit and Brahmins in the name of Periyarism etc. have raised lot of Hindu eyebrows.
The AIADMK is also struggling to catch the imagination of the people and due to the one-upmanship pressure of Dravida politics – they have now demanded Bharat Ratna for the so-called ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker.
They don’t have any other go but keep oscillating between Periyarism and moderate Dravidam. The recent Brahmin genocide comment by a DMK spokesperson was also totally out of turn. None of these are helping DMK set a unique progressive catchy ‘Dravida Model’ narrative. Housewives are still awaiting their ₹1000 per month and women don’t seem to be overly excited with the free bus ride scheme.
People were also not too amused by the recent Pongal gift fiasco where there was lot of controversy around the quality of the items. Opposition parties have been crying hoarse on the increasing crime rate in the state. The recent comment from A. Raja, a DMK senior member, threatening the Centre to not make them demand an independent Tamil Nadu has again raised lot of eyebrows nationally.
The list keeps increasing and the tired Tamil public’s appetite for Dravida politics seems to be declining as they have been seeing such politics for decades. Such negative politics is clearly overshadowing any good work DMK might have actually done in some areas. Annamalai, on the other hand, has not missed any chance to highlight the possible corruption in the new DMK regime. The current anti-dynasty mood in the nation is also slowly catching up in Tamil Nadu which is again not a good sign for the DMK family. Annamalai has been comparing DMK first family with the Shiv Sena first family. Tamil Nadu is silently but surely watching if an Eknath Shinde will appear from DMK also.
Average Tamilians had almost made their mind that nothing is going to really change much for them irrespective of who comes to power but BJP’s youthful, extremely talented, educated and humility personifying face of K. Annamalai who has been successful in kindling their hopes again with a new progressive vision for Tamil Nadu.
Lakhs of people wait to hear their Anna Annamalai speak every day and the issues that he raises against DMK that seem to actually make sense. The enormous gathering for his public meetings show that Tamil Nadu wants to hear some fresh progressive narrative and is getting tired of the usual anti-hindu, separatist, divisive, Brahmin-bashing, appeasement driven, language focused politics that has plagued the state for so long.
Annamalai and BJP’s padhyatra in January 2023 with the sound of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” in the background is going to compel the Tamil makkal to seriously introspect. It’s a matter of time that Tamil Nadu will go through a drastic political churn and embrace progressive, development oriented, nationalistic, values driven, Aanmiga Arasiyal (spiritual politics).
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