Can Rajinikanth fill the vacuum in Tamil Nadu?
The actor’s reticence in taking the political plunge could be interpreted as a sign of his prudence
This could be the moment. The prospect that Rajinikanth has been toying with for a long time now. His reticence in taking the long-soughtfor political plunge is consistent with his lowprofile real-life persona, but could also be interpreted as a sign of his prudence.
Rajinikanth has been consistent that he does not see himself as a “political leader or statesman’’. Nevertheless, speculation about his imminent entry into the political arena has cropped up with uncanny regularity.
Rajinikanth, given that he is from Bengaluru, has been compelled to weigh in when tensions between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have come to a head over the Cauvery river water sharing dispute. He has even tried to build a political consensus over the inter-linking of the rivers across the country, another of his projects that has not found much traction — a reflection of his lack of political sagacity.
The other piece of the Rajinikanth’s political puzzle is his supposed antipathy towards the late Tamil Nadu chief minister, J Jayalalithaa. Rajinikanth chose not to confront her in a one-on-one confrontation, and with her death, never can. Rajinikanth’s political prospects seems the brightest now, thanks to the political vacuum created by the demise of Jayalalithaa and the near-retirement of the DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi. Or do they?
So when a Marathi-speaking Kannadiga from Tamil Nadu considers a political career in his adopted state, what are the factors he would have to weigh? Of course he is hugely popular. Would that translate into votes? MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa as actors-turned-politicians and who even had strong roots outside the state have etched their names in the Tamil political firmament. If anybody can form a triumvirate with MGR and Jaya, it could be Rajinikanth. For that, his fan clubs should be deployed as a part of larger strategy to build his political career, like how MGR’s fan clubs acted as the bulwark of his political plan, which helped Jayalalithaa too.
MGR had his political career firmly ensconced in the Dravidian movement. Jayalalithaa stayed true to it merely in name. Though the Dravidian movement is rooted in atheism, Jaylalithaa was clearly religious and publicly gave money to temples. Rajinikanth has not got the political pedigree or the ideology, instead he has hobnobbed with the Congress initially and more recently with the BJP.
Caste politics is a reality despite the Dravidian movement’s sway over the politics of Tamil Nadu in the past few decades. Will Rajinikanth overcome the political faultlines? For that the people of Tamil Nadu should feel the State has reached a political cul de sac and only Rajinikanth can save it. If not, the mega star will make space for a non-existent BJP to make some inroads and nothing else.