CHENNAI: With only months left for the next Assembly polls, the latest touring talkie that is making the rounds in Tamil Nadu has as its lead a former ‘actor’ who is anxious to break free of his father’s shadow. But DMK’s heir-in-waiting MK Stalin’s much-hyped tour across the state to connect with the common people has had mixed response so far, attracting more comments about his style than politics; his cloths and coolers more than the issues.
What is worse, he is even accused of being a copycat, following the trend set by a clutch of new leaders rather than charting a trail of his own.
The campaign titled Mudiyattum-Viduyattum—loosely translated as end (of the AIADMK regime) and rise (of the government he is hoping to lead)—now has Stalin touring the state to meet people, apparently to listen to their grievances. For this tour, the 62-year-old has given up the traditional dhoti-white shirt attire for more colourful—or youthful—choices. He has shown a predilection for pink shirts, and sports a pair of expensive bright sneakers instead of the stately black leather footwear.
According to a DMK functionary, Stalin had purchased an array of colourful dresses for the campaign to present himself as more appealing to the young voters.
This has had a desired effect, though only on party sympathisers for now. “Stalin seems to be more youthful than on TV,” says a woman worker at a salt pan in coastal Thoothukudi district.
The tour is backed by extensive campaign on social media, where photographs of him riding two-wheelers, having tea from a roadside shop, interacting with the poor, youth and various other sections of the population are splashed during the day. There is even a nearly half-an-hour-long video as well that has a production value like that of a feature film.
Though the DMK men refuse to agree openly, the inspiration for this initiative is evident—Narendra Modi’s spectacularly successful campaign that attracted the minds of the youth in India. There are many like Gandhian activist Thamizharuvi Manian who sees in him a leader in search of his ‘Kalavati’ a la Rahul Gandhi.
Some others even see the campaign having resemblance with that of yet another CM aspirant, Pattali Makkal Katchi’s Anbumani Ramadoss.
Stung by the criticism that his ongoing roadshow is copied from others in style and substance, including his sartorial preference, the DMK treasurer has been at pains to explain that he was not copying anyone.
Stalin and the party maintain that the tour of all constituencies was not launched with an eye on the 2016 Assembly polls. The former deputy chief minister to his father M Karunanidhi is reaching out to the people to listen to their grievances and learn their aspirations, they claim.
To their credit, the tour—it has covered Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Virudhunagar and Madurai—is eliciting reasonably good response, especially in pockets where the DMK is strong. At these places, the tours often turn out to be grievance meetings where farmers apprise him of the insufficient water supply for irrigation leaving out fertile lands remaining fallow and high price of fertilisers, homemakers point to the high price of essential commodities, youth seek employment opportunities and the like.
However, despite all the efforts, rivals have managed to reduce the campaign to a war of the wardrobe that has the Stalin camp forced to defend their leader’s attire. Stalin is not the first in Tamil Nadu or even in the party itself to project a sartorial image. Dalit leaders including Thol Thirumavalavan of the VCK and K Krishnasamy of the PT are never seen in dhoti—they prefer trousers, with shirts tucked in. Stalin’s close relative and ex-Union minister Dayanidhi Maran also never sported a dhoti.
At the end of it all, it remains to be seen if Stalin’s ambitious campaign, said to be scripted by his son-in-law, would have the effect in the coming election. The first phase of the campaign, which began in Kanyakumari on September 20, will get over on October 2.