WHO ARE YOU, RAJINIKANTH?
Actor-turned politician Rajinikanth’s great stature and influence in Tamil Nadu makes him a valuable asset for parties looking to make inroads into the state
TO be asked “who are you?” can be unnerving for a celebrity and shocking for admirers. It is more so if he is Rajinikanth and if the questioner is a Tamil, in Tamil Nadu, where the superstar is almost omnipresent and where thousands of ‘mandrams’ (fan clubs) abound.
Could K. Santhosh Raj have failed to recognise the bald-pated, white-bearded hero, now 67, looking far removed from his filmy persona? He was protesting and that, perhaps, explains his demeanour.
The star’s stoic reply: “I am Rajinikanth” went viral in cyberspace, inviting sympathy and support but more of trolls by critics.
The youth was one of the injured protesters being treated in a hospital amidst a public protest in which 13 persons died due to police firing.
Residents of the port city of Tuticorin have been protesting against the multi-million Sterlite copper smelter for years, alleging that the plant had worsened groundwater and air pollution in the area.
This has been one of the significant environmental protests in India since 14 people died in West Bengal’s Nandigram protests in 2007 against the government’s plan to acquire land for Tata’s Nano car.
Sensing more trouble, the Tamil Nadu government closed it down.
But it was badly managed and the London-based owner got relief from the court.
Rajini was critical of the mob violence that led to the firing and attributed it to “anti-social elements”.
Asked to justify his allegation, he lost his shirt. Attacked by media, he later apologised.
The most charitable comment about Rajini’s visit, so long after the agitation began, is that it was a political and public relations fiasco.
The jury is out whether he was insensitive in what amounted to supporting the police firing. Some say he has shown the courage that others have lacked.
Rajini treats the attacks on the police as complete lawlessness and this was not the first time he expressed such views. Even during the anti-IPL (cricket) agitations at Chepauk, he had hit out at those who attacked the police.
To be fair, no Indian leader of stature ever encouraged violence.
Whether in power or out of it, former Tamil Nadu chief ministers, the late Jayalalithaa and Muthuvel Karunanidhi, had never encouraged violence.
Rajini is a respectable personality whose foray into politics has been viewed with a mix of hope and misgivings, the latter because he is not used to its rough ways.
Without much ado, the “who are you” episode should be seen in the context of the flux in Tamil Nadu’s political situation postJayalalithaa.
The powerful and popular chief minister died under mysterious circumstances in December 2016.
The perception is that her squabbling successors were unable to govern effectively.
The field is open and Rajini’s floating a political party after years of dilly-dallying is seen as an invitation to, not in defiance of, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Rajini, by his own admission, wants to inherit AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran’s political legacy. During a media interaction recently, analysts say, he displayed traces of Jayalalithaa’s assertive brand of politics.
That was when Rajini said the state government should clamp down on anti-socials with an iron fist as Jayalalithaa used to. MGR, on the other hand, confined his anger to films.
Politically, Rajini is in demand. With parliamentary elections coming, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruling at the national level wants to partner both Rajini and AIADMK.
The latter’s massive victory in 2014, thanks to Jayalalithaa, is its unique sales proposition.
Tamil Nadu’s 40 parliamentary seats and that of the neighbouring Puducherry (former Pondicherry) are crucial to the BJP for the parliamentary majority.
Tamil Nadu is more crucial since the BJP emerged as the single-largest party in Karnataka state last month, but failed to form a government.
Karnataka failed to be the BJP’s gateway to the South. Tamil Nadu’s political scene could throw up unique possibilities.
Rajini is a leader without a party and the AIADMK is a party without a leader. The political polarisation, which is getting sharper by the day, could bring them together.
Rajini’s views on the Sterlite violence were lapped up by AIADMK mouthpiece ‘Namadhu Amma’ to defend the government.
More than the BJP, its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has a lot of hope in Rajini whose politics has an overwhelming spiritual content.
But this may not be compatible with Tamil Nadu’s political discourse that has been dominated by the visions and vocabulary of the Dravidian Movement for over a half-century.
The Dravidian Movement, as is known, emerged out of political struggles that sought equal opportunity for non-Brahmins in the bureaucracy, demanded social justice in all aspects of life, and privileged a Tamil national identity over the claims made by the parties of the North. Indeed, there is a demand for forming “Dravidanadu” of the southern states.
To counter it, the RSS and its affiliates active in southern India anticipate greater space for their agenda in Tamil Nadu. They would like to project Rajinikanth as an alternative to the praxis of the Dravidian Movement. They are banking on a strong constituency of people out there who are neither AIADMK nor DMK supporters. They hope that Rajini with his charisma and his ‘mandrams’ will reach out to them.
But Rajini and his potential allies must contend with a younger star, Kamal Haasan, who has also launched a party and is clear about what he wants. As of now, he is avowedly anti-BJP.
Rajini must also contend with the main opposition DMK that is waiting in the wings. The party led by M.K. Stalin is poised to challenge the current ruling dispensation when the time comes.
The political thrust of Stalin matches that of Kamal Haasan and contrasts that of Rajinikanth. And that makes the political situation in Tamil Nadu more complex.
Statements emerging from the state’s various political actors, even if they aren’t direct responses to each other, indicate the emergence of the North-South clash and competing ideological narratives. Tamil Nadu may be in for a change.
Rajinikanth isa respectable personality whose foray into politics has been viewed with a mix of hope and misgivings, the latter because he is not used to its rough ways.
The writer is NST's New Delhi correspondent. He is president of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (2016-2018) and a Consultant with Power Politics monthly magazine. He has co-authored two books, Afghan Turmoil: Changing Equations (1998) and Afghan Buzkhashi: Great Games and Gamesmen (2000). He also lectures at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications.