A To-Be-Or-Not-To-Be Moment for Rajnikanth
KS Muralidharan
The news is now breaking intensely every day: Is Tamil Nadu one step away from making history?
The winds of change are whispering and gathering speed: Will 2024 LS Polls write the preamble to the slow-burn death of the Dravidian eco-system, which has lorded over the state for the past six decades? Will Tamil Nadu look beyond the Dravidian trope and reinvent itself in a genuinely new avatar that will be a complete break from its past: No more anti-Hindi, and north-south divide?
Having said so, on the flip side there are many who insist that while the saffron sway in Tamil Nadu may be for real it is not a surge as such and going forward, may not be here to stay. They reason, not wrongly, that even if the BJP manages a double-digit vote share in the LS polls in Tamil Nadu, it may be far from sufficient to dethrone the Dravidian parties from their citadel. Further, assembly elections are a good two years away and when a week is said to be a long time in politics, it will be a herculean task for the BJP to sustain its rising popularity among the people for a hundred weeks. If it fails to do so, it will be back to square one.
For perspective, recall that around the 1990s in undivided Andhra Pradesh, the BJP once managed to get over 20% vote share in the national polls, but failed to build from there and quickly slipped back to being an insignificant player in the state.
All this is true. And yet there is little doubt that Tamil Nadu is on the cusp of change. What remains to be seen is only the degree of change. Like, will DMK fall sooner or later? Will AIDMK’s vote share tumble down to a single-digit vote?
Annamalai’s six-month long Padayatra appears to have done in Tamil Nadu what LK Advani’s Rath Yatra did on a national scale to the BJP: That is, compel the people to think of the BJP as an alternative to the political status quo. The way the people are responding at an emotional level to Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in his rallies cannot be viewed as a matter of commercial purchase — even assuming that crowds at political rallies are a buy-in.
A silent revolution is brewing in TN. But it needs a catalyst, for the revolution to break out and become a tsunami.
And the real catalyst can be, more than the redoubtable real-life Annamalai as one would surmise, the reel-life Annamalai, Rajnikanth.
A single one-liner from Rajnikanth, calling upon the people of Tamil Nadu to grab this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to break free of the Dravidian eco-system and vote for the BJP and Modi, will add humongous miles to the BJP’s campaign and create history for sure and now, rather than remain as a mere hope that it could be created sometime in the uncertain future.
Incidentally, it is not the first time that Rajnikanth will be doing so. His one statement — and that too, a loaded and not a straight-forward one — against then Chief Minister Jayalalalitha sealed her fate in the past.
Further, this is also not something that Rajnikanth will be uncomfortable with. After all, he is an overt supporter of Narendra Modi, and additionally, not coy about his Sanatani beliefs and bent of mind.
The stage is set for Rajnikanth to call Lights, Camera, Action and for once enact a new real-life role. For the sake of the people of Tamil Nadu, and in particular, his fans whom he let down after going back on his promise to enter politics.
It is up to Rajnikanth to decide whether he wants to be the one who will lead this revolution for ushering in a new history-in-the-making in Tamil Nadu, or end up as a mere cheerleader of Annamalai later.
Imagine the dramatic effect of Rajnikanth himself contesting the elections on the BJP ticket from Chennai. Annamalai and Modi plus Rajnikanth will be too hot a trinity for the DMK and its alliance to handle. In fact, the moment Rajnikanth takes the plunge, you can expect a cascade of all the minor parties making a beeline to join the NDA.
But if Rajnikanth fails to rise to the occasion, choosing to be a mere spectator rather than being the tour de force of a new historic paradigm shift in his State, it might mean that even he is fearful of taking on the combined might of the 3Ms of the DMK in the state, viz. muscle, media and movies. Or could it mean that there are some hidden skeletons in his cupboard?
The only thing that may be holding Rajni back is his status in the BJP. Can Thalaivar Rajnikanth serve under anyone? Admittedly, a tough choice to make, but that is a challenge he must accept to face and deal with, either way.
Tamil Nadu is waiting for its uncrowned king to roll the dice — at the most opportune time when Lady Fortune is his for the taking. It’s his to-be-or-not-to-be moment. The showman must show up.