Black and white flags, with the image of J. Jayalalithaa, line the streets of verdant Ooty. A huge crowd is raising slogans. They are waiting to welcome the new disruptor in Tamil Nadu politics.
A fancy tempo traveller, with speakers on all four sides, zooms in and skids to a halt. A few men in safari suits alight and form a barrier, holding the crowd at bay. The cadres cheer on as T.T.V. Dhinakaran pops up through the hatch on the roof. Thunderous applause follows, and slogans of ‘Makkal Selvar’ (prince of the people) and ‘Dravida Selvar’ (Dravida prince) rent the air.
The adulation makes the 55-year-old’s face glow. The founder of the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam is clad in a grey shirt with a Chinese collar. “This is not an election just to change the government at the Centre,” he says. “It is [an election] to liberate the people of Tamil Nadu. Vote for my candidates; [our symbol is] gift box.”
While the more powerful DMK and AIADMK have formed alliances for the upcoming elections, the AMMK is fighting alone. It has put up candidates in all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and in all 19 assembly constituencies going for byelections. The polls will be held together, on April 18.
Dhinakaran continues his speech, attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for betraying the people of Tamil Nadu, and taking a dig at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, saying, “He does not seem like a prime minister candidate. [The alliance with the DMK] was created by M.K. Stalin for political gains.”
Dhinakaran is all smiles. His next target is the man he helped claim the chief minister’s chair—Edappadi K. Palaniswami aka EPS. “AIADMK party cadres are with me. Only the tender parties are with EPS,” he says sarcastically, referring to allegations of corruption against the state government. “EPS needs eight more MLAs to stay in power (the AIADMK has 113 MLAs, three of whom are openly supporting Dhinakaran; with the byelections, the strength of the assembly will go up to 234, and the AIADMK would need 118 MLAs for a simple majority). There is no Modi wave. Only a secular man can become prime minister after this election.”
Dhinakaran, who was expelled by the AIADMK in 2017 and formed his own party in 2018, wants to capture the vote bank of former chief ministers J. Jayalalithaa and M.G. Ramachandran. To do so, he often plays the victim card, telling the public that the AIADMK leaders had become “slaves” of the BJP, and had teamed up to keep him at bay.
“I follow in the footsteps of Amma, but I do not use her name to gain votes,” the R.K. Nagar MLA told THE WEEK. “I admire MGR, and my mission is to free the AIADMK from the clutches of corrupt politicians.”
Said Rajesh Ramesan, an AIADMK member who came to watch Dhinakaran in Ooty: “I have been an AIADMK member for 28 years. I am missing Amma this time. There is no strong leader. Modi cannot be my leader. EPS and OPS (Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam) will only act on Modi’s words. But what happens to our party? I feel Dhinakaran can lead us.”
Ooty aside, Dhinakaran has attracted crowds elsewhere, too. As he belongs to the influential Thevar community, he is seen as a strong leader in southern Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK, under Jayalalithaa, commanded more than 40 per cent of the votes in the Thevar heartland—Madurai to Thanjavur, and all the way till Kovilpatti. “Everyone says that my party is strong in south Tamil Nadu,” said Dhinakaran. “But, the AMMK has its organisation structure, like any other Dravidian party, in all districts. We have a strong cadre base, which everyone will realise soon.”
While the Thevar votes could go to the AMMK in the south, robbing the AIADMK off a huge chunk of support, in the north, where the DMK expects a huge win, Dhinakaran will eat into the anti-incumbency votes. “He will spoil the DMK’s fortunes,” said senior journalist Tharasu Shyam. “His AMMK will poll at least one crore votes across Tamil Nadu. The anti-DMK votes will not go to AIADMK, as it has no strong leader. And, as Kamal Haasan (Makkal Needhi Maiam) and Seeman (Naam Tamilar Katchi) do not have an organisational structure, Dhinakaran could grab all these votes.”
And, with some election surveys calling him the dark horse of the elections, the party workers are upbeat. “T.T.V. is a completely different politician compared with the [ones the] state has seen in the past five decades,” says Thanga Tamil Selvan, the AMMK’s Lok Sabha candidate from Theni, who will take on Panneerselvam’s son, O.P. Raveendranath Kumar, and the Congress’s E.V.K.S. Elangovan.
Theni, in fact, is considered Dhinakaran’s home base, as it was from there—he won the Periyakulam Lok Sabha seat in 1999—that he entered electoral politics, under Jayalalithaa. The major chunk of Thevar voters in Theni district, who have traditionally voted for O. Panneerselvam, are likely to turn to Dhinakaran. “He (Dhinakaran) did a lot for Theni when he was the MP from Periyakulam. OPS has betrayed us by going with Modi,” said Rajangam, a local AIADMK member.
In Sivaganga, AMMK candidate V. Pandi seems to be gaining more attention than the big names—Congress’s Karti Chidambaram and the BJP’s H. Raja. The incumbent, AIADMK’s P.R. Senthilnathan, has been silent, and that has affected the AIADMK’s support to the BJP in the seat. Moreover, Pandi has a clean image, which has earned him a lot of goodwill. “If Modi becomes prime minister once again, Raja will become minister. But what will we get?” asked Saravanan Subbaiah, an AIADMK member. “Under [Dhinakaran], our party can emerge like how it did under Amma.”
The other constituencies where the AMMK is likely to have an impact include Thanjavur, Ramanathapuram, Tenkasi and Tiruchirappalli. According to AMMK insiders, Dhinakaran is concentrating on winning 11 seats in the south.
However, he does have a headache heading into the elections. As the AMMK is not a registered party, his candidates will be treated as independents. This means winning MPs could go with any other party they choose. The AIADMK, especially, could woo the independents if it falls short of majority in the house.
“We suspect external forces have plotted against us. But, we can still win with the new symbol,” said P. Vetrivel, former MLA and one of Dhinakaran’s lieutenants.
The silver lining, however, is that the Election Commission has given the AMMK candidates a common symbol—gift box—which means the party will not have to popularise different symbols in each seat.
But there is another problem troubling Dhinakaran—the tag of corruption associated with his Mannargudi family. He cannot distance himself from his aunt, the tainted yet popular V.K. Sasikala, but his call for a corruption-free state is affected by the association. “She is our party’s general secretary,” Dhinakaran told THE WEEK. “I met her before I started my campaign.”