Vijayakant plods on

Though a star constituency in next week’s Tamil Nadu’s Assembly elections, it remains a shockingly neglected Congress pocket-borough for decades, still just a village panchayat since it was carved out in 1962. 

It is this legacy that is triggering a thirst for change as actor and DMDK founder Vijayakant is pitted here against the veteran four-time Congress MLA, S Sivaraj, hailing from a well-to-do family of land-owning Mudaliyars with freedom fighters’ credentials.    
Thus,  Vijayakant, who first entered the Assembly in 2006 by winning from Viruddhachalam nearby, finds himself embroiled in a new kind of “anti-zamindari politics” in a 10-cornered contest where pro- and no-changers seem to be in equal numbers. The constituency has an electorate of a little over 2.04 lakh.

In this OBC Vanniyars’ heartland, Vijayakant virulently attacks both Ramadoss-headed PMK and the Dalit outfit, VCK led by Thol Thirumavalavan. Rishivandiyam by itself, though, is a composite mosaic of caste groups, with the sitting Congress MLA Sivaraj’s family held in high esteem.

While the Congress is backed by the DMK,  Vijaykant, as part of the AIADMK-led alliance, is toeing a pragmatic line as he goes around in his open jeep unmindful of the blazing sun. Several gaffes in his campaign in other parts of the state—like even slipping up on candidates’ names—have quickly caught the ruling DMK’s eye, particularly its star propagandist, comedian Vadivelu. He paints Vijayakant as an unfocussed, non-serious political player driven by the Greek god of wine.

But “Captain” Vijaykant, who for thousands of his ardent fans is MGR re-born as “Black MGR” (due to the former’s complexion), is giving nothing away.

The large crowd that came to hear the actor at Chidambaram on Thursday roared with approval when Vijayakant demolished Thirumavalavan’s taunt that “he (DMDK leader) should read history first (before campaigning),” with the Chinese Communist leader Deng Xio Peng’s famous words: “Yes, we all read history. But it does not matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it catches the mice.”

Vijayakant justifies ties with the Jayalalitha-led AIADMK saying “it is only with the party founded by MGR, my ‘Maanaseega Guru’ (revered teacher).” 

The unorthodox flow of words and the irreverent pot-shots he takes at the DMK’s top leadership are a big hit with Vijayakant’s large fan following in these districts, going beyond caste-based political identities that are fostered by parties like the PMK and VCK. And it is this band of youngsters wanting change who are carrying the cross for him at Rishivandiyam as well.

Support is not lacking for the other major contenders. “The Mudaliyars will not take a paise to get any work done for the people from the government and their family (Sivaraj’s paternal uncle Sundaram Mudaliyar had earlier won twice from here) over the years has done good work like getting a girls’ high school, water supply scheme and so on,” said Vijayakumar, a noon meal organiser at a government school here.