New Delhi, May 14 -- Vox Populi Suprema Lex. In a democracy, the people's voice is the final public will, which is the supreme will. Actor Vijay dismantled several myths that prevailed in Tamil Nadu politics. All political parties strongly believed in money power, through which one can reach power and retain power. This belief strongly percolated into the minds of politicians across all political parties. It is partly true even in this election. But that myth has been broken by Actor Vijay, who secured 35 per cent of the votes polled without bribery.
Secondly, it was believed that without organisational strength, no one could reach power. This was discussed repeatedly in media discourses. Many argued that it was only a crowd and that it would not be converted into votes, as there was no organisational culture. Those who know the theory of organisational behaviour would agree that the above point is valid. But Actor Vijay dismissed this premise and the theory that one cannot reach power through one man's communication without having a strong organisational structure. Actor Vijay drove his fans and followers to the polling booths.
In Tamil Nadu, over the past thirty years, politics has become a lucrative business. Consequently, a large number of people with enormous ill-got wealth have entered politics. They came into politics not out of ideology but with the basic aim of earning money. It is being argued that governments have regularised corruption as an acceptable phenomenon. People have been severely affected because of organised corruption, and they have lost hope that the situation can be redeemed from the organised loot carried out by the party in power and colluding officials. In order to reduce the fury and wrath of the poor, governments announced and implemented a series of populist schemes, in which party men also received their lion's share. Through ill-got money, political parties firmly believed that votes could be purchased. They had been successful in doing so for the last 30 years. This belief system has been dismantled by Actor Vijay. Without distributing money, he contested the election, and during the campaign, he focused only on the corrupt practices of the ruling establishment and refused to align with the opposition party. It was believed that with money and power, one could do whatever one wanted, but this notion has now been torpedoed.
Being an actor, he correctly sensed the mood of the people. Every time the Prime Minister came to Tamil Nadu, he lambasted the ruling establishment by citing statistics of corruption in Tamil Nadu's governance. For the past twelve years, the central government has not booked a single individual for corruption. It uses corruption as an issue during elections, but it does not genuinely seek to end corruption. The issue of corruption was initially taken up by Annamalai when he was the president of the Tamil Nadu BJP, and he deepened the discourse. It was then cleverly handled by Actor Vijay, who created a new binary between money, power and personality. Many argued that after the demise of Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi, a leadership crisis loomed large. This gap was identified by Actor Vijay, who emerged as a mass leader and challenged the power of money. The two alliances were formidable in terms of party strength on both sides.
In the beginning, he too wanted to form an alliance and openly stated that he was ready to form a coalition government. However, parties that had once advocated coalition politics refused to accept his argument that the people of Tamil Nadu had never believed in coalition governments. Hence, they rejected his proposal. As a result, he was forced to face the election single-handedly. Since he was contesting alone, he was pressured to join the NDA in order to defeat the DMK. He refused to budge, as he sensed the mood of his followers. All political parties, whether small or major, failed to understand the ground reality because they had not been with the people over the last thirty years. People had become completely alienated from politics. Vijay identified this gap and established an emotional connection with the people. He was the only leader in Tamil Nadu politics who could attract crowds without offering anything to those attending his meetings. All other parties spent huge amounts of money to bring people to their leaders' meetings. Having sensed Vijay's ability to attract people, many challenges were created to obstruct his roadshows. He faced all these challenges single-handedly during the election. Had he campaigned further across all regions, his vote share would have increased enormously.
Now, binary politics may gradually come to an end, although, for the time being, the DMK and the AIADMK continue to dominate the legislature. In due course, how these three forces play their cards before the people will determine the fate of the parties. The Indian National Congress, once a ruling party, is now insignificant. In the same way, the AIADMK may also be reduced to an insignificant force. The DMK, however, is likely to survive, as it is scientifically organised as a business-model party that can keep its cadre alive even without power, and for a much longer period.
What emerges from the electioneering in Tamil Nadu in 2026 is that voters preferred a new establishment in power by refusing to take money for their votes and instead voting for Vijay. Yet another thesis is that voters accepted money from both parties but ultimately cast their votes according to their own preference between the DMK and the AIADMK. The major victory, however, belongs to democracy and the people.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is a former Professor and Rajiv Gandhi Chair for Panchayati Raj Studies, Gandhigram Rural Institute
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.