Superstar Vijay is taking on Dravidian parties. But how different is his TVK from these parties?

Commercially speaking, Vijay is 1 of the astir bankable actors successful Kollywood. He has a sizeable instrumentality basal crossed the urban, semi-urban and agrarian centres of Tamil Nadu. He besides has a pursuing among the Tamil colonisation successful Sri Lanka and successful the Tamil diaspora successful the West. The merchandise of his films are festive events, particularly for a young antheral crowd. While the sexism successful his films would rile wide senses, Vijay, arsenic the virile masculine hero, is shown defending fashionable causes. Through galore of his characters, Vijay voices enactment for Tamil assertion, farmers’ protests, the contented of jallikattu etc. and opposes the “anti-people, pro-corporate” establishment. Espousing specified causes, helium has cultivated a governmental basal done his films and nationalist appearances.

In TVK’s archetypal authorities conference, Vijay declared that his enactment would travel the way of the Periyar E V Ramasamy, the iconoclastic rationalist and person of the Dravidian Movement, on with K Kamaraj, B R Ambedkar, Velu Nachiyar and Anjalai Ammal. What has provoked curiosity is Vijay’s connection that but for Periyar’s anti-god position, helium would similar to subscribe to each his different ideas. Though atheism was cardinal to Periyar’s vision, this should airs nary ideological inconvenience to Vijay since the Dravidian parties themselves person shelved Periyar’s absorption to god.

Actor Vijay attends his party’s archetypal governmental conference, astatine Vikravandi connected Sunday. (PTI)

C N Annadurai, the laminitis of the DMK, famously appropriated the Saivite saying, “One communal humanity, 1 god”, and posited it arsenic his principle. At a clip erstwhile Periyar was notorious for breaking images of deities, Annadurai said that helium would neither interruption Pillaiyar statues nor interruption coconuts for them. As an electoral party, the DMK knew that the bulk of its supporters were spiritual believers and it wouldn’t beryllium politically prudent to instrumentality a hard enactment connected atheism. While Karunanidhi occasionally made caustic remarks astir religion, helium besides celebrated spiritual reformers similar Ramanujacharya and Ramalinga Vallalar. AIADMK leaders MGR and J Jayalalithaa were known to beryllium rather religious. However, each of these leaders held Periyar arsenic an inspiration.

Periyar was a societal reformer who had nary involvement successful governmental positions. He believed that this enabled him to talk his caput connected immoderate societal issue. Periyar’s views connected religion were rather provocative, but truthful were his opinions connected nationalism, caste, gender, language, and the large leaders and governmental movements of his time. He saw societal problems arsenic interconnected, with the operation of caste and religion being a cardinal hurdle to societal progress.

Political parties that contested elections could not situation suggest the measures helium advocated. For instance, Periyar advocated that a pistillate should not conscionable locomotion retired of her matrimony if it’s abusive, but besides to prosecute vocation goals oregon if determination is incompatibility. Dravidian politicians could not instrumentality specified a presumption earlier their electoral audiences. What politicians, whether from DMK oregon AIADMK, could bash is usage Periyar successful a minimalist way. While they could not travel his extremist libertarian attack to the women’s question, they could instrumentality argumentation and payment measures to guarantee adjacent rights and entree to women. The Hindu Succession (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act of 1989 nether Karunanidhi’s authorities gave adjacent rights successful household spot to daughters. The escaped bicycle strategy for miss students nether Jayalalithaa’s regularisation successful 2001 greatly enabled pistillate mobility.

As of now, Vijay has not expressed immoderate beardown disagreement with Dravidian governmental leaders of the past, dissimilar the BJP oregon the Tamil nativist Naam Tamilar Katchi, some of whom question to wholly basal retired the Dravidian bequest from the state. The TVK enactment opus positions Vijay alongside Annadurai and MGR. Vijay has supported greater autonomy for the state, the continuation of the two-language formula, greater practice for women, a caste census and secular politics, and has opposed NEET, communal politics, and casteism. He has besides said that Dravidianism and Tamil nationalism are similar the eyes of his party. All of these are compatible with the Dravidian ideology successful a wide sense.

While Vijay’s emergence volition beryllium a situation to Dravidian parties, from his statements it does not look arsenic if helium seeks to displace the Dravidian governmental imagination. And Vijay tin travel Periyar’s way portion not being anti-god — oregon adjacent being pro-god, for that substance — arsenic agelong arsenic helium subscribes to the basal notions of societal justness and secularism.

The writer is module astatine National Law School of India University