The monetisation and dramatisation of TN’s politics
In the years to come, the state may well witness a battle between a splintered Dravidian movement and resurgent Hindutva
Crackers exploded, drums gonged and bugles sounded en route as VK Sasikala, just released from prison, moved in a slow convoy from Bengaluru to Chennai on February 8. Thousands, showering flowers on her, entreated her to return to politics. And she said yes, she would. Who would say no, with that kind of euphoria around?
I asked Professor AR Venkatachalapathy, perceptive scholar of the history of modern Tamil Nadu, of the Dravidian movement and, in particular, of the political philosophy of Periyar EV Ramasami, what he made of all this. “When Gandhi, Nehru, Patel were released from jail,” he said, “they did not receive the kind of euphoric welcome that has greeted her.” He was right. Not counting telescoping sentences awarded to him, Gandhi did a total of 16 jail terms in South Africa and India put together, Nehru nine terms, and Patel, five. None of them were greeted with anything like this when they stepped out of jail.
In Tamil Nadu, Periyar was jailed seven times before India’s Independence, and more than twice as many times after Independence. And all 24 times for reasons of principles, policy, programmes. “Siraikkanjaa Singham ”— the lion who fears no cage — is how he has been described. But nothing like the mass, ecstatic fanfare that has greeted the confidante of the late J Jayalalithaa on her release welcomed Periyar when he walked out of jail all those times.
So, was that Tamil Nadu a different universe? It would definitely seem so. What is the difference?
Politics then was short on money, high on mind. It was short on time, high on work. It could neither afford the expense nor the time for anything that was not strictly necessary, anything like celebrating releases from prison. Things are not so now. Money is short in the country, but not in the country’s politics. Casteism is looked down upon in classrooms, but it looks up in party strategy-rooms. Leaders, then, had followers; today, they have fans. Followers follow, fans whirr.
Tamil Nadu’s politics in the pre-Independence era, and until the mid-1960s, was a map of ideological spaces where nationalist sentiment and Tamil fervour asserted their respective visions, and leaders cheerfully went to prison, wrote, spoke, and strove with limited resources but unlimited ideas. Tamil Nadu’s politics today is a jigsaw of stardoms, castedoms, cashdoms with limited ideas and unlimited resources.
This, of course, is a generalisation and, like all generalisations, must be subject to the citing of great exceptions. And, so, I must say that the Dravidian canoe rowed by Asiryar K Veeramani, Left, Dalit and secular groups in the state struggle for their ideals against heavy odds. As do non-governmental organisations engaged in matters of public interest. And independent writers in Tamil of great integrity, courage and skill, tilting against the blades of commercialism and populism. And there is Kamal Haasan.
But, by and large, the state has become a high-decibel, hyper-tensed terrain where mobilisation of numbers upon numbers is the name of the game, with ethnicity playing its part. If White supremacy can be shamelessly promoted by Trumpism in the United States, can sectarian dynamics remain dormant in Tamil Nadu, in India?
Money plus numbers spell spectacle. And so it is into such a spectacle-dazzled Tamil Nadu that “Chinnamma”, as Sasikala is called by her supporters, has returned, spectacularly, hailed by her supporters as signalling a galvanic change. Does her return indeed signal that? Can she lead her faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to victory in the elections due to take place in May? Three months in politics are an aeon and could witness realignments, unforeseen developments. But whatever the spectacle surrounding her return does or does not do to her fortunes, or to those of the AIADMK or the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, it is doubtless going to intensify money and communitybased mobilisation in Tamil Nadu’s politics.
But politics holds surprises. And spectacular politics can hold spectacular surprises.
Like this: The monetisation and dramatisation of politics in Tamil Nadu may well clear the way for the financially strongest player with the greatest sense of “visuals” around — Hindutva.
Hindutva in Tamil Nadu? Sounds incredible. But then who would have imagined West Bengal in 2021 could be witnessing a win-orlose struggle between the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? Not in the coming election perhaps but in the next to next, the choice in the state may well be between a splintered Dravidian movement and a resurgent Hindutva locked in a spectacle of all spectacles.
Will then “Siraikkanjaa Singham” Periyar’s Dravidian vision of a casteless, gender-just, rational Tamil Nadu, the old Rajaji-Kamarajstyle Congress of financial probity and servicebefore-self, and Tamil Nadu’s “never-say-die” Left get re-energised to appeal to the great and discerning Tamil people whose services Gandhi described in his South African struggle as being “unequalled”? They might just, with Dalit leader Thol Thiruvamavalavan and his Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi providing them, perhaps, with a new energy.
BY AND LARGE, THE STATE HAS BECOME A HIGH-DECIBEL, HYPERTENSED TERRAIN WHERE MOBILISATION OF NUMBERS UPON NUMBERS IS THE NAME OF THE GAME, WITH ETHNICITY PLAYING ITS PART