CHENNAI: Like any other general election, this time too, trivial issues such as personal attacks, emotional outbursts, and below-the-belt remarks are driving the campaign. But in this election, the dose of trivia has exceeded from the very beginning and as a result, actual issues have been pushed to a back-seat.
For the current Assembly elections, the campaign has started much ahead of the notification -- more than three months ago. From the beginning, personal attacks and counterattacks were a regular feature among the two Dravidian majors. As the day advanced, the arguments heated up, and ‘fake message war’ started in the social media by giving false info regarding each other’s election manifesto.
The trivia-driven campaign reached its crescendo when DMK's star campaigner A Raja made below-the-belt remarks on the worthiness of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami last week and his birth. Raja’s remarks drew widespread opposition from all quarters.
The AIADMK lodged a complaint with the Election Commission and the Chief Minister mentioned Raja's remarks in his campaign in Chennai.
Though Raja tendered an apology saying his remarks were twisted, the EC took a serious view and delisted him as a star campaigner of the DMK as well as debarred him from campaigning for 48 hours. Meanwhile, videos about many leaders making such 'unworthy' comments started coming out.
Makkal Needhi Maiam led by Kamal Haasan described BJP national women's wing president and candidate for Coimbatore South candidate Vanathi Srinivasan as a 'thukkada candidate' (unimportant candidate).
Retaliating, Vanathi Srinivasan hurled a double-meaning phrase at Kamal Haasan saying: "The actor has been doing only 'lip service'. This too warranted a host of reactions from people on social media.
Meanwhile, a large number of political jingles most of them on personal attacks against leaders are doing rounds on social media fanning the emotions of the cadres of various political parties. The latest video doing the rounds on what BJP candidate and former IPS officer K Annamalai's remarks during the campaign almost threatened DMK functionary Senthil Balaji.
Asked about this ugly trend, political analyst Tharasu Shyam told TNIE: "I was a witness to many conferences and meetings of the DMK and Periyar in the past. In those days, people attended the meetings by paying gate fees. In 1967, people attended the DMK conference in Virugambakkam by paying money. Now, the situation is topsy turvy. People are being paid to attend the meetings of leaders."
Shyam added: "When the crowd is spontaneous, the leaders cannot speak whatever they wish because the audience will question them. Now, there is no one to question the leaders as it is an organised crowd.
Indeed, it is a sorry state of affairs where actual issues have taken a back-seat or even made to vanish from the minds of the people by such trivia."