By K.V. Venugopal
The women voters played a pivotal role in the sweeping victory of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, led by actor-turned-politician Vijay, when the party romped home with 108 seats in its debut run in the recent assembly election. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu recorded a huge jump in polling. For instance, its overall turnout had risen from 72.7 per cent in 2021 to 85.1 per cent in the poll. There is no iota of doubt that the bigger share emanated from a large number of voters belonging to women, whose numbers increased from 72.6 per cent in the last assembly poll to 86.2 per cent in the current election, whereas the men turnout had increased from 72.8 per cent to 83.7 per cent only from last election to the present one.
Women Voters in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu indicates a distinctive pattern in women’s voting behaviour. Overall, women voters were favourably inclined towards the TVK led successfully by Vijay accounting for 38 per cent, whereas the ruling DMK alliance could garner only 31 per cent and the AIADMK lagged way behind with a mere 25 per cent, clearly proving beyond doubt that the TVK was the single largest preference among voters belong to the women. Tamil Nadu also exhibits a broadly similar yet distinct pattern in women’s exposure to welfare schemes. There are no two opinions that the previous DMK government led by its chief minister, M.K. Stalin did a lot to attract the women, as both the major Dravidian parties in the state are aware that the women play a crucial role for their vote-bank politics.
For instance, the DMK’s ‘Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thiattam’, which provided Rs.1,000 a month to eligible homemakers and the Pudhumai Penn Scheme, which offered monthly support to girl students from government schools to encourage higher education, besides the Dr. Dharmambal Ammaiyar Ninaivu Widow Remarriage Assistance Scheme that provided financial assistance of Rs.25,000–Rs.50,000 to support widow remarriage and rehabilitation, were among the key schemes directly targeted at women. But that was not enough for them to mobilise more women voters than of TVK, as a section of them had directed their anger towards the previous regime for neglecting the ‘Amma Unavagam’(Mother’s hotel) floated by the late AIADMK chief minister, J. Jayalalithaa to promote their free breakfast scheme for school children.
It was surprising to note that even the recipient of the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam in Tamil Nadu during the tenure of the DMK government, 36 per cent of the women voted for the TVK, in response to 33 per cent for the DMK, whereas only 26 per cent of the women voters had exercised their franchise for the AIADMK, which was unthinkable during the tenure of Jayalalithaa, as a large number of women looked at Jayalalithaa for their survival, if not for acceleration. The DMK might be wondering, as in spite of the largest number of women household beneficiaries during the tenure of M.K. Stalin, the party was unable to translate this extensive welfare reach into a clear electoral advantage.
However, among non-beneficiaries of the worthwhile schemes launched by the DMK for the women, the TVK support had increased to 44 per cent, while 28 per cent extended their support to the DMK alliance and the AIADMK alliance came a poor third with only 22 per cent of the women voters in their kitty in ‘Magar Urimari Thittam scheme’. However, in the ‘Pudhumai Penn Scheme’ launched by the erstwhile regime, the DMK outwitted the TVK by securing 45 per cent of women voters, with the TVK getting only 28 per cent. The AIADMK, as usual, lagged behind with only 22 per cent. However, the share of beneficiaries in this scheme was relatively smaller, compared to the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thittam. A more or less similar pattern was observed in the ‘Widow Remarriage Assistance Scheme’, where 52 of women beneficiaries supported the DMK alliance, compared to 24 per cent for the TVK, and 19 per cent for the AIADMK. Among women, who were non-beneficiaries of the ‘Pudhumai Penn Scheme’, the TVK emerged as the leading recipient of votes, with approximately 45 per cent of women voters supporting the party. Among non-beneficiaries of women related to the Widow Remarriage Scheme, the TVK support rose to 43 per cent, while the alliances led by the DMK and the AIADMK received broadly similar shares, indicating a more competitive electoral split in the absence of welfare exposure.
Women Centric Welfare Schemes in Tamil Nadu
The overall trend in Tamil Nadu suggest that women-centric welfare schemes are mediated by broader electoral competition and political context, and do not translate into exclusive political loyalty on their own. Though the women in the state were happy over the schemes announced for them by the previous DMk government, they were disgusted and shell-shocked when the senior DMK leader Ponmudi berated them with “Osili thane porenga” (Are you not commuting at free of cost in state buses) despite the previous government sanctioning the privilege to the women. Another party MP, Kadir Anand and son of the veteran DMK leader, Durai Murugan, berated them with, “Nalla alangaram pannikittu porenga”(you are travelling at with make-up), had not gone down well with a section of women and this must have reflected on the women voters decision to shun aside the DMK.
There is no denying the fact thatVijay, as a popular tinsel world hero in Kollywood has attracted the cine-crazy fans and a large number of movie-goers, including the women have become his ardent fan. As a matter of fact, Vijay is being looked at as a semi-god by many people, with the women outnumbering the women, despite his disturbance in his family life, with his wife allegedly seeking divorce from him and his much rumoured love affair with his co-actor, Trisha. The grapevine in the Kollywood says that he is likely to marry her after the formality over his divorce with his first is completed However, the teenagers and adolescents belonging to the women community did not attach much credence to such allegations against their favourite hero Vijay, and a section of them even uttered, “Ungallukku ennaiya avar chinna veedu vachu erandu, moondru pondatikalai vechiruda”?(In which way does it bother you, if he is having an extra-marital affair with two or three wives around) to the questions posed by the rival parties about his alleged close relationship with some women.
Film Actors in Tamil Nadu Politics
In a nutshell, the women from various walks of life made it crystal clear that they would not tolerate character assassination of their beloved hero who was elected to rule the destiny of Tamil Nadu. The women actors in Kollywood welcomed his promotion as a politician in a cesspool of politics, where the Bollywood superstar, Amitabh Bacchan had backed out after his election as a Congress MP in the 1984 Lok Sabha poll. Tamil Nadu witnessed criticisms of the film actors, and, more so, the heroes emerging to rule the state. The late AIADMK-founder leader, M.G. Ramachandran faced this accusation from the DMK led by its late patriarch, M. Karunanidhi, who constantly had a dig at him that being a novice in politics, MGR as a movie-actor was having an ambition to rule the state. But, Karunanidhi was also aware that MGR rode two-horses simultaneously. For instance, he began his political career in Congress and was with the party from 1948 to 1953 before switching over to the DMK.
However, when MGR floated his AIADMK in October 1972, he was aware that he will be bombarded for his filmy connections by the opposition parties. He wanted to put a full stop to such accusations by urging the then Prime Minister, Morarji Desai to allow him to function in a dual role, after winning the assembly election for the first time around in 2977 that he would perform as the chief minister during day time and would resort to acting at night. However, Morarjibhai being a practical person, asked him to see reason, as that would be well-impossible and a herculean task to manage two challenging professions at a stretch, before asking him to choose any one task ahead of him. Naturally, MGR opted to rule the destiny of Tamil Nadu. The late mass leader, however, did not fail to point out the movie-links of the DMK leaders like Annadurai and Karunanidhi, as dialogue writers for some films like, “Oru Iravu’(one night), ‘Parasakthi’,(super goddess) ‘Thirumbipar;(look back), ‘Anda Naal’(the yesteryear). Many actors in South India, including N.T. Rama Rao were inspired by MGR’s entry into politics.
As far as the film actors succeeding in politics, it is only MGR and subsequently Jayalalithaa succeeded to rule Tamil Nadu, and with distinction, too. A large number of actors, including the thespian Sivaji Ganesan had failed miserably at the hustings and many of them even lost their deposits. Though the actor-politician Vijaykant emerged prominently with his Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam in the beginning, his party lost its appeal after a brief period. Under the circumstances, Vijay’s scintillating victory is admirable and he has also attained the roaring success by contesting alone, as even MGR faced the elections with alliance partners. Vijay might even claim that had his TVK forged an alliance with the Congress prior to the assembly poll, the women voters sympathetic towards the Congress could have added to his tally of women support.
What Does Vijay bring to the table?
Keeping the overwhelming support of the women in mind, Vijay had created a special women police force called ‘Singapen padai’ (Lion army) and has also decided to remove the alcohol shops that were causing inconvenience to the women and especially to the housewives. Vijay even promised them before the poll that his party would not allow widows on the increasing list due to alcohol menace. At the same time, Vijay also reminded the children and adolescents, especially the girls, that he owes his party’s victory to them, too, as without their insistence on their parents to exercise their franchise in his favour, the TVK would not have attained the mandate that he wished. Here, too, the influence of women towards his party was amply evident. However, it is futile to compare Vijay with MGR, as the former did not have much political grooming before entering into the nitty-gritty political arena, compared to the latter who during his time had created adequate time for politics, in spite of his immense popularity as a good samaritan hero in the film world. MGR’s mantra was simple – that a busy man always creates time.
Only the coming days will tell whether the TVK led by Vijay will rise to the occasion or not. However, it would be improper, if the opposition parties and the public in general expect immediate results from his promises. After all, he would be expected to have a breathing time of a minimum period of six months to prove his mettle, which even the late Congress(O) leader, Kamaraj had spared for the DMK, when the Dravidian party tasted success for the first time around in Tamil Nadu under the leadership of C.N. Annadurai in 1967. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, with a volley of women followers around him, have realised the importance of Vijay and his outfit, even though the BJP in the state could emerge victorious in only one out the 27 constituencies allotted to them by the AIADMK.
Tamil Nadu Election Result and Mr. Modi
Mr Modi is aware that even though Vijay is in the good books of Rahul Gandhi, he had thrown a spanner in the works by accusing the Congress of back stabbing the DMK, after the former’s switch-over to the TVK by sharing in the ministerial participation after 59 years. The Prime Minister’s assertion is that even though there is no love lost between the DMK and the BJP, his tactics was to shun aside the Congress with his “Mukt Bharat Congress” slogan by lauding the the DMK, as their 22 MPs could be in a position to bail the BJP out at the Centre, if the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu and the JD(U) leader and the former Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar, decide to leave the BJP in the lurch, considering the reported cracks in the alliance in Bihar, recently, especially, when barely two-and-a-half years are left for the next parliamentary poll. For the time being, Vijay is sitting in the driver’s seat. His party is ready to face the onslaughts of the DMK, as they are more dangerous as an opposition party than of the ruling front.
