Whereas campaigning in rural Tamil Nadu, Premalatha Vijayakanth rubbished comparisons between her late husband, actor-politician ‘Captain’ Vijayakanth, and Vijay of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), who’s making his first look within the polls.
“I’ve no opinion,” stated Premalatha, president of the Desiya Mulpok Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), based by her husband in 2005, returning to the acquainted chorus that Mr. Vijayakanth isn’t just an actor-turned-politician but in addition a frontrunner “among the many folks.”
Within the afternoon warmth within the city of Mangalampettai close to Virudhachalam – the constituency the place Vijayakanth as soon as gained his solely however symbolic victory in 2006 – the excellence hung within the air, if implicit, with certainty – Vijay isn’t the captain.
The primary to reach was a convoy of automobiles, driving one after one other by small intersections in Cuddalore district and slim roads main into the inside. Premarata walked out within the scorching solar, her voice regular as she moved from one small gathering to a different.
Round her, echoes of Vijayakanth lingered in unusual methods. Native officers speeding to rearrange chairs and direct crowds, the boys carried his traces—the identical rigorously combed again hair, the identical streak of vibhuti (ash) throughout their foreheads. It was as if the occasion, over time, started to resemble its founder.
For Premarata, that resemblance is much less bodily and extra vital than political heritage, which she now carries nearly solely on her personal. “The captain was a frontrunner of the folks,” she stated. “Intent on serving the folks, he turned his fan membership right into a political occasion and contested elections.”
This can be a story that has been well-told within the film-political continuum of Tamil Nadu, however Vijayakanth’s model had its personal grammar. His occasion, DMDK, contested a complete of 234 seats in its first parliamentary elections in 2006, however gained just one. Nonetheless, it secured 8.38% of the votes, a determine that Premalatha continues to be repeating.
“It’s a must to show that proportion,” she stated. “Even when we do not succeed”
This quantity speaks to each its rise and fall. The occasion’s vote share was 8.4 per cent in 2006 and 10.3 per cent within the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which fell to 7.9 per cent in 2011, however it gained 29 seats, the very best ever and the final time it gained a seat within the state. It additional declined to five.1% within the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, 2.4% in 2016, and eventually to the statistical breaking level in 2021 at 0.43%.
reminiscences of higher instances
However Premarata’s focus stays not on attrition, however on what the share of early votes represents: a direct connection to folks.
“It doesn’t matter what downside comes up, he can be the primary to go there,” Premalatha stated. She listed the floods, the 2004 tsunami, a crackdown on sandalwood smuggling, explosions in small villages as in the event that they had been landmarks on a political pilgrimage. “He folded his dhoti and stood with the folks,” she stated. That is a high quality missing in lots of who got here after her, she added. “If leaders and persons are completely different, that bond won’t ever be fashioned.”
This assertion serves as each a cautionary story and a critique, not simply of Vijay however of an entire era of leaders formed by completely different media eras. Premarata himself belongs to that in-between second. Neither a mass chief nor a conventional politician, however somebody who grew into politics by proximity, management, and in the end necessity. Her transition from what occasion insiders as soon as referred to as Vijayakanth’s “supervisor” to DMDK’s main voice has been gradual and never with out friction.
In 2019, Premaratha negotiated concurrently with rival alliances led by DMK and AIADMK for max seats. “There aren’t any everlasting enemies in parliamentary politics,” she stated, a remark that raised issues in regards to the occasion’s anti-establishment origins on the time.
Social gathering insiders stated Mr. Premaratha had approached the AIADMK, the BJP and even Mr. Vijay’s TVK earlier than the DMDK signed a seat-sharing settlement with the DMK in February. This election marks the primary alliance between the DMDK and the DMK, however the worth of the alliance lies much less within the DMDK’s latest electoral efficiency than in what occasion strategists describe as an everlasting holdover: a base of Vijayakanth supporters who proceed to flock to the marketing campaign out of reminiscence, loyalty and cultural attachment even after repeated defeats.
Now, Premaratha sees his function as a continuation somewhat than a negotiation. “Realizing the desires and targets of Vijayakanth is now the one purpose of DMDK,” she stated.
That readability additionally extends, not less than rhetorically, to problems with gender. When requested how she would navigate a subject dominated by male leaders like MK Stalin and Edappadi Okay Palaniswami, she rejected that premise.
“There isn’t a gender discrimination in politics,” she stated. “Everyone seems to be a citizen. Everyone seems to be a accountable human being.” Indira Gandhi and J. Jayalalithaa – two figures who dominated their political panorama – stay her function fashions. “I’ve by no means thought by way of males or ladies. No matter is true, that is what we comply with.”
The DMDK is at the moment in decline, its second-ranking chief has decreased, and its voting base has shrunk. A lot of that id stays tied to Vijayakanth, together with his charisma, cinematic reminiscence, and ethical standing as an anti-corruption determine.
Premarata acknowledged that his absence isn’t just emotional however structural. “This can be a enormous loss for occasion members and the folks,” she stated. She added that his declining well being earlier than his loss of life in 2023 “prevented him from realizing his desires.”
She has regained readability on coverage, particularly on the language debate in Tamil Nadu. “Let’s shield our mom tongue and study all languages,” she stated, quoting what she described as Mr. Vijayakanth’s place. “The mom tongue is like our eyes. Different languages are like glasses. We use them once we want them.” It is a format that matches comfortably inside the state’s long-standing bilingual framework. “Tamil Nadu has all the time had a bilingual coverage,” she stated. “There isn’t a three-language coverage.”
What’s much less clear is the place the occasion itself stands within the present political turmoil. As soon as a destroyer, now a negotiator. As soon as a 3rd drive, it’s now preventing to determine itself.
However in Mangalampettai, these doubts are rapidly cleared up by the efficiency. Premarata nonetheless strikes by the gang reacting to the reminiscence of the Captain, invoking his title as each a defend and a sign.
Her return to Vridhachalam comes with reminiscences and hazard. It was additionally right here that Mr. Vijayakanth achieved his first victory within the Congress in 2006. 20 years later, Mr. Premaratha is making an attempt to regain that emotional terrain even because the DMDK’s electoral numbers have plummeted. For Premaratha, this constituency is greater than only a marketing campaign. It is a take a look at of whether or not the captain’s reminiscence can nonetheless be counted on to vote in a much-changed political area.
