No end in sight to turbulence in TN politics -Governance Now

No end in sight to turbulence in TN politics

Looks like DMK is not prepared for taking on the government, says a professor

Shivani Chaturvedi | September 12, 2017 | Chennai

#AIADMK #DMK #Rajinikant #Tamil Nadu #MK Stalin #BJP

DMK president MK Stalin

No party seems to be prepared to end the prolonged political crisis that Tamil Nadu has been facing for the past nine months, feel analysts.

The main opposition DMK is not adequately responding to the situation. So, what is stopping them from seizing the opportunity?

Professor Ramu Manivannan, head of the department of politics and public administration, Madras university, says, “The DMK seems to have two reservations. One is that the party members who got elected in the last election don’t want to risk losing another four years. The other factor is that the top man is not active anymore. They feel once they take a big step like bringing down the government or going towards a change, then they must have everything in place.”

“As of now DMK is not prepared. MK Stalin considers himself to be a man in waiting. But he may have to just wait unless he pre-empts. So that kind of deliberation is still not demonstrated. Looks like DMK is not prepared for taking on the government,” the professor assessed.

He says that the BJP wants to untie the knot in Tamil Nadu politics. First, it wants to completely break up the AIADMK into factions and smaller factions and then be with whichever faction is influential. But they still need the AIADMK brand. Second, they want a mass face. They have been working on Rajinikanth for a long time and looks like even the superstar is ready for it now. He wants to float a party, which he had hinted, and the party might even affiliate with BJP at an election time. There might be a combination of BJP, Rajinikanth and OPS going to the polls.

Sources say, the state BJP unit does not want to be in the middle of the chaos in Tamil Nadu. They think it is too difficult for them to manage, though they want to work closely with the government. This happened with Congress also and some feel it is typical Tamil Nadu politics.

The state government is busy among themselves. Even the centenary of MG Ramachandran (MGR) was used for making and breaking the party.

Manivannan adds, Tamil Nadu is going through leadership transition. BJP is a prime mover of the government in Tamil Nadu. BJP feels they are under attack. They want to play the game as they know it is now or never. One thing is for sure that they “cannot run the party as DMK or AIADMK can be run because the national BJP does not understand how the Dravidian parties run the system”.

The two Dravidian parties work with people and in social movements, anti-caste movements and social justice movements. But somehow BJP here feels that these issues are outdated and do not matter. However, the local issues do impact the voters. BJP as of now doesn’t know where to begin with this kind of politics in the state, says the professor.

This is the right time for BJP to set up its presence in the state but public would accept the party provided it speaks the issues affecting the people. BJP state leadership should at least represent state issues. “How many BJP leaders go to the places of protests such as farmers’ suicide, or protests by villagers at Neduvasal against hydrocarbon extraction? Why such places must be visited only by Dravidian parties or by people’s movement?” asks a political commentator.

Observers say AIADMK would dissolve and the process is already on. The immediate beneficiary is DMK, provided they are able to seize the opportunity.

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