CHENNAI: The digital space in Tamil Nadu resembles a battlefield as DMK and AIADMK have waged a war of advertisements against each other even as campaigning is reaching a feverish pitch.
In its latest set of advertisements, along the lines of the 2019 poll ads, the DMK has released videos touching upon inflat ion and communal politics.
This is in response to AIADMK’s advertisement, under the banner ‘Vetri Nadai Podum Tamizhagam’, where a group of farmers turn away politicians coming to seek votes, saying that “a farmer like us is giving good governance as Chief Minister’. Another similar video takes a dig at dynastic politics, in which a group of youth turn away politicians saying, “After grandfather, it was son, and now it is grandson. Are we fools to vote for dynastic politics?”
The AIADMK had also released more ads highlighting the alleged “rowdy-rule” and “land-grabbing” issues during the DMK regime.
While these ads seem to have caught the DMK’s campaign off-guard, the party’s IT cell head P Thiaga Rajan had promised better days for the DMK supporters. “I hope the DMK supporters, especially on social media, are a little less stressed tonight than they were the last few days..,” he had said in his Twitter handle. He said that the best is yet to come.
Rightly so, the DMK released multiple ads on Friday and Saturday. The scene takes place in a temple, where a group of people discuss shunning a politician who says, “We need to save our religion, so vote for us.”
One of the members in the group says he had turned the politician away pointing out that this is Tamil Nadu and people co-exist here like brothers and sisters. Another member says, “We must make sure the people who do politics with religion are kicked out of Tamil Nadu.”
Finally, Stalin shows up in the video asking voters to defeat fascism and ensure social justice, and secularism. Similarly, in another advertisement, a group of people outside a provision store, question the rising prices of gas and essential items, and criticise the “Vetrinadai Podum Tamizhagam” campaign promo slogan of the AIADMK.
The issues of hydrocarbon project, Salem eight-lane project and encroachment of lakes also feature in another advertisement. The winner of this war on the digital space will be known when the election results are out. The State is going to polls on April 6, and counting will take place on May 2.