DNA Edit: Thalaiva’s threat

Tamil Nadu loves its film stars. It loves them so much that it often rewards them politically when they come seeking a mandate. MG Ramachandran or MGR, as he was popularly known, and Jayalalithaa have both steered the administration of the state as its Chief Minister after gracing the world of Tamil cinema. Even Dravida Munnetra Kazgham’s founder C N Annadurai and its current president M Karunanidhi have marked their role in Tamil Nadu’s political history by playing the part of the state’s Chief Minister. Now, another stalwart has thrown his hat into the ring. None other than the ‘Thalaiva’ will be giving other political parties in the state a run for their money in the next assembly elections of 2021, and possibly in the 2019 elections as well.

Rajinikanth’s entry has had the effect of setting the cats among the pigeons. Tamil Nadu’s complex electoral calculations have been muddled all the more, and hopefully for the better with Rajinikanth’s entry. After Jayalalithaa’s death, the AIADMK is in a shambles and its two camps- one led by the combine of friend-turned-foes-turned-friends Chief Minister E Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam and the other led by sidelined AIADMK treasurer TTV Dhinakaran - are locked in a state of war with each other.

Meanwhile, DMK has seen both its clout and popularity recede drastically, while Dhinakaran, with his victory in the RK Nagar bypoll, has shown that Tamil Nadu is quite willing to pass on the baton of Jayalalithaa’s legacy to the nephew of her aide VK Sasikala. Add to this welter of political players, another celebrated actor Kamal Haasan had announced his foray into politics in November last year but held back from formally launching a party citing that he will tour the state to better understand the problems ailing the people.

Now with Rajinikanth’s declaration, Haasan is obviously facing the heat, and many are waiting with bated breath for his next political move. Political commentators have hinted that Haasan’s stardom, while staggering is not a patch on the following of Thalaiva and his best chances, politically speaking, will be in not pitching himself in full opposition to Rajinikanth. From other corners, the murmurs of erosion in cadre base are gathering strength. Both the AIADMK and DMK stand to lose a sizable section of their ground-level workers.

In Tamil Nadu, cinema’s power to unite the masses - as seen through the lens of the mania that sweeps the state every time Rajinikanth’s movie is released - is just as potent, if not more, than the power of local politics to cleave people into political camps. It is entirely possible for die-hard followers of Jayalalithaa or M Karunanidhi to assemble under the glamour-tinged and reality-warping leadership of the superstar. But he will have to entrench himself in the local political imagination because cinematic influence can only take one so far. Jayalalithaa’s administration has left an enduring legacy and it will not be easy to overcome it.