MADRAS, 23 April 2004 — A new element introduced in the parliamentary elections to the seats from Tamil Nadu is causing anxiety on both sides of the political fence.
Tamil superstar Rajnikant and his fans have decided to throw their lot behind the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in the state. Rajnikant, who has a mass fan following that defies description, stated a couple of weeks ago, “My vote is for the BJP-led alliance.”
The declaration by the star followed weeks of acrimony between his fans and a regional party Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), which till a few months ago was a partner in the BJP-led ruling coalition in India, but is now an ally of the Congress party.
The faceoff between the fans and the PMK goes back to 2001, when the party’s founder leader Dr. S. Ramadoss dubbed Rajnikant “a negative influence on the youth”.
PMK supporters had subsequently stormed cinema halls which screened one of Rajnikant’s films “Baba”, which incidentally bombed at the box office. With the enmity festering, the fans, with the tacit blessings of the actor, had started campaigning against the PMK, which is contesting six constituencies in the state, three of them against BJP candidates.
Though the actor qualified that his fans are free to vote according to their conscience, over the last two weeks the Rajnikant Fans Associations across the state have expressed support not just for the BJP, which is contesting six of the 39 seats that the state have in the lower house of Indian Parliament, but also in many places, the party’s major partner in the state, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Ironically, just eight years ago Rajnikant had turned the tide against the AIADMK in the state legislature elections by going against AIADMK.
Though AIADMK general secretary and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has not forgiven him for partly being responsible for her defeat in the 1996 legislature elections, she is in no position now to reject the support of the actor’s fans. Nor is she in position to openly acknowledge the support of the fans, who have now started turning up in large numbers at the election meetings addressed by Jayalalitha.
In fact, a senior AIADMK leader C. Srinivasan, who had ‘”wholeheartedly” welcomed the Rajni fans’ support at first, but later retracted it, reportedly after being chastised by Jayalalitha.
The AIADMK approach is to remain ambivalent toward the Rajnikant fans. But its electoral partner BJP is cock-a-hoop over the development. Meanwhile, the Congress and its major partner in the state, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,(DMK), which is leading the umbrella alliance of parties called Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) are downplaying the Rajnikant factor.
