Finally Rajnikant ends suspense with announcement of his entering politics

Chennai: Tamil Nadu not just roar for the new year to day but also with their famous superstar announcing his entry in politics, Rajnikant says  En vazhi thani vazhi (my path is always unique). Thus Rajinikanth, the teenage, middle-age and old-age heartthrob of the Tamil Nadu in a Tamil film some two decades ago which is still doing the rounds both in the cacophonic world of Tamil politics as well as by way of parody in every other walk of life. “I will do my duty… it is time we will change the system” now the 67 years old declared in Chennai saying he would form a new party also claiming that the events in Tamil Nadu over last year have made the state a laughing stock “if I don’t make this decision now the guilt will haunt me”. Rajinikanth has been keeping everybody in suspense in perpetuity ever since he hit stardom more than four decades ago. Millions of his fans have been on tenterhooks, hanging to his lips.  But the inscrutable star all these years did not give a clue about his political roadmap beyond the vague one-liners such as the one above and ‘nan eppo varunumo correct ta vandhiduvehn’ (I would arrive on the scene at the appropriate time). Rajnikanth has always been its hope because Tamilians by and large are also inured to their cinema. Indeed, Tamil Nadu has always remained under the thrall of film stars and has been eating out of their hands (pun again intended). BJP thought Rajnikant could be the lever to pries open the state. But he has proved he is not only not pliable but also extremely sensible — had he cast his lot with BJP, he would have been dwarfed by it in his fiefdom. More than he would be looked down upon as a Brahmin stooge given the BJP’s image as a brahminical party.

The death of AIADMK’s iconic leader JJayalalitha last December is seen to have left lot undone in state also affecting politics. While Kamal Hassan one other big actor announced entering the politics last month also welcomed and Rajnikant announcement with congratulating.

At last with his arrival in the Tamil Nadu political Firmament on 31st December 2017 as sun sets on old year beginning with New Year as rising sun has been the enduring and evocative party symbol of the DMK, while RajniKant’s entry would mark the sunset of this party as well. Notheless it is big move that he has not joined any political party including BJP, for which he has had an enormous liking, is significant. He knows the caste calculus of the state — only 3 percent forward caste. He knows BJP is not a winner in Tamil Nadu though it is on ascendance everywhere else. Tamil Nadu has remained a pipe dream for BJP because of the deep-rooted Dravidian culture the state is inured to. This vice-like grip of the Dravidian culture could not be prized open even by the vacuum left by the late J Jayalalithaa (her name is sometimes spelled as Jayalalitha) when the party (BJP) strategists thought the AIADMK was vulnerable for takeover now that she was not in the scene. It seem there was sizeable sliver of the AIADMK founded by the late MGR includes believers, the target vote bank of BJP, unlike non-believers who are at the base of DMK. BJP thought it would woo the believers among the AIADMK rank and file but it miserably failed.

Hence the Rajinikanth can confidently say that he has emerged as the alternative political force in the state, as for the last half century, Tamil Nadu oscillated between DMK and AIADMK, a breakaway formation of the former. With people now really have a third choice, and that the third choice indeed is another regional party. Too many regional parties have been the bane of some state-confined parties like Shiv Sena, NCP, TRS (before Telangana emerged) and TDP (before a truncated Andhra emerged).  But in Tamil Nadu, Rajini’s party would be the latest kid in the block which people would like to try out for it’s refreshingly novel values and promises if not for anything else.

Rajnikant with promise and wining statement said that if in three year his party didn’t fulfill the promise then they shall quit new as press source.