On the face of it, Udhayanidhi Stalin’s show of strength through an impromptu mini-roadshow of sorts in Thanjavur, after securing bail and return to Chennai within 12 hours of his arrest, can be seen as a setback to the Joseph Vijay government. In cricketing parlance, the televised arrest and the ”road trip” to Thanjavur are being interpreted as Vijay having given a free hit to the DMK.
Stalin Junior’s smirk to the continuous chant of ”Trisha, Trisha” by the DMK cadre during a Cauvery protest meeting in Thanjavur on Monday, and his loaded comment that smacked of sexual innuendos, had angered the TVK cadre. The party had also lodged a complaint with the National Commission for Women seeking its intervention ”regarding objectifying and sexually suggestive remarks” made by the Leader of Opposition. Hence, the party faithful were left stumped when the TVK government took a U-turn in court and denied any plan to send Udhayanidhi to judicial custody. The station bail that followed was, then, a mere formality. Nonetheless, the DMK leadership did not miss the opportunity to turn the occasion into a show of strength.
In any case, the case stood on weak legs. While a case could be filed for defamation, the arrest was seen as an overreach – more so when politicians are known to milk such arrests to generate sympathy and emerge stronger.
It is, therefore, felt that the TVK government showed its lack of political acumen by raising the political temperature, allowing the DMK an opportunity to score a political goal, that too a day before the Tamil Nadu assembly’s budget session was to start. The DMK has been groping in the dark since its humiliating exit from power in May, and many TVK supporters feel that the arrest episode only provided it with political oxygen, galvanising the cadre-based party to allege that Vijay had made the move only because he was scared of facing Stalin in the assembly. Even TVK allies, like the Congress, and non-allies like the PMK felt that while the remark was in bad taste, the arrest was unnecessary. Given the manner in which the DMK cadre rallied around him, it also elevated Udhayanidhi’s political stature. Till now, he was only known as Karunanidhi’s grandson and Stalin’s son, who owed his earlier position as Deputy Chief Minister and present position as Leader of Opposition, to his family name.
So, did Vijay and the TVK commit political harakiri?
I see it more as a case of Vijay testing the waters. Tuesday made the TVK leadership understand how exactly the DMK reacts under pressure and mobilises its forces in every district.
For too long, Vijay has been dismissed as a movie actor who stormed to power riding on his personal popularity as an actor. For many months, the visuals of Vijay taking the flight out of Trichy airport to Chennai soon after the stampede in Karur in September that killed 41 people, has been cited as proof that he was a ”coward”. Speaking to reporters at the same Trichy airport on Tuesday night, Udhayanidhi repeated the charge, highlighting that he, in contrast, was not one to run away.
The arrest saga was thus Vijay borrowing a leaf from the Jayalalithaa handbook, and establishing that he is no pushover and can be a strict administrator. The episode was designed to send a message to the DMK that even their top leadership could be touched if they crossed the line. This would make other DMK leaders such as Senthil Balaji and Anitha Radhakrishnan, who are out on bail, nervous.
More importantly, what the DMK does not realise is that Vijay, by sending the cops after Udhayanidhi, has fortified his women constituency. Women played a significant part in bringing him to power, and the Chief Minister has sought to emphasise that anyone who talks loosely about women or abuses them or threatens them will be shown his place. This episode is a way of showing that no one, including the scion of a powerful political family, will be spared. In the past, politicians such as the BJP’s Nainar Nagendran and the AIADMK’s CV Shanmugam made comments in bad taste about female actors. The DMK’s platform speakers also have a history of using loose language on stage, and this move by the Tamil Nadu police might force them to choose their words wisely.
Politically, this is also Vijay’s move to turn Tamil Nadu politics into a Vijay vs Udhayanidhi battle. In the run-up to the Tamil Nadu elections, it was believed that both the Stalins would get equal mileage as star campaigners for the DMK and the father would make it evident that he would pass on the baton to the son at some point. But Vijay’s theatrical entry and the humungous response he got forced the DMK to change its plans, and Stalin Senior remained the sole face of the DMK campaign. The party knew that a Vijay vs Udhayanidhi face-off at that stage would be reduced to a no-contest show. DMK supremo MK Stalin, in contrast, commanded respect.
The arrest episode has elevated Udhayanidhi’s stature and the DMK would be tempted to push him to open the batting for the party on the streets, in addition to his role inside the Assembly. That may also just be what Vijay wants as he would fancy his chances against his Loyola College junior.
Tamil Nadu has had a long history of politicians in power heaping public disgrace on their opponents. The manner in which Jayalalithaa was humiliated inside the assembly in 1989 and the midnight arrest of Karunanidhi in 2001 are public lore now. When Vijay visited the Stalins soon after taking charge as Chief Minister, it was seen as an attempt to break away from the acrimonious DNA of Tamil Nadu politics. The arrest episode has shown that the politics of the state is only a chameleon, constantly changes its colours.
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Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
