All is not well in the political sphere of Tamil Nadu, there is an infighting going on in the incumbent All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Ever since the death of AIADMK leader Jayaram Jayalalithaa in 2016 the party has seen unrest within its own cadres. Jayalalithaa ruled in Tamil Nadu for a record time. Her demise in 2016 led to an outbreak of infight in the party factions. Post her death three factions came out of AIADMK , one led by O. Panneerselvam, the second by Edappadi K. Palaniswami who is supported by V.K. Sasikala and the latest one to break out is of the 19 MLAs who owe allegiance to ex-deputy general secretary of AIADMK ,T.T.V. Dhinakaran. Too much drama for a state and yet M. Karunanidhi led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has not been able to take benefit from this situation. DMK has failed big time as an opposition in the state and is yet to make an impact in the state following Jayalalithaa’s demise. In the past few months two movie stars jumped into the political scene to fill the gap created by lack of leadership in AIADMK and DMK. One of them is south India’s most diverse actor Kamal Hassan and the other is the biggest superstar India has ever seen, Rajinikanth.
Both Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan decided to jump into the fray but with very different goals in mind. While Rajinikanth has decided to change the state for the better, whereas Kamal Hassan has restricted himself to the sidelines. Kamal Hassan seems not so serious about changing Tamil Nadu while Rajinikanth is daring to challenge the mindset and work culture of the state. This became apparent after Rajinikanth’s statement which came after his visit to the victims of the Thoothukudi police firing. He said, “If there are going to be protests for every issue, Tamil Nadu will turn into a graveyard”. This happens to be a big statement coming from the founder of Rajini Makkal Mandram. He has also decided to field candidates from his party in all the constituencies in the upcoming state elections. His statement is a bold one considering this probably his voters might be angry with him.
Rajinikanth has always taken a bold stance against injustice be it through his movies or through his recent work in the political sphere. Rajinikanth urged the police forces to take strict action after identifying the anti-social elements in the protests held against the Sterlite copper unit. Rajinikanth said, “Anti-social elements have infiltrated the protests and created trouble. The people, who participated in the protests, including the fishermen, are innocent. Same thing happened in the final day of Jallikattu protests”. He further added, “The whole trouble started when anti-social elements started attacking the police. The problems started then. I will never accept policemen in uniform being attacked”.
This is a refreshing statement made by Rajinikanth and it should be welcomed everywhere in India. Rajinikanth’s statement shows that he is going to raise the standards of politics in the state and on the national level once his party wins. In a country where politicians are ready to create a ruckus at the drop of a hat for political mileage, where they are ever ready to doubt the army and blame the cops for any incident, but then Rajinikanth has taken a very bold step and has shown a way towards a different kind of politics. Rajinikanth’s stance on the Sterlite issue has shown that the nationalist and social upliftment can go hand in hand. By refusing to take a populist stance Rajnikanth might have irked off a few people but in the long run his already soaring credibility will get a major boost from this. Finally, one can agree that Tamil Nadu has found a leader with a backbone, all hail Rajinikanth.
