JUST SPAMMING | Caught In A Whirl Of Surrealistic Politics

Vignettes that emerged from Tamil Nadu’s political theatre last week smacked of surrealism. First, it is unusual for the leader of a political party that has done resoundingly well in the elections to earn the status of the single largest party in the State calling on the Governor three times with a request for an invitation to form the government, despite being turned down repeatedly. When such leaders normally stake a claim to form the government, they go with the final list of supporters after checking if they have the requisite numbers. But C Joseph Vijay, the founder president of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK), allowed himself to be turned away from Lok Bhavan thrice by Governor Rajendra Vishwanth Arlekar, who has said that he does not have the numbers, which by itself is weird. Why should Vijay and his political associates drive all the way down to the Governor’s bungalow without mustering enough support from MLAs? The scenario was similar to the ‘juxtaposition of random, mundane objects in bizarre settings,’ a technique employed in surrealist painting. In fact, everything about the TVK, its professed ideals, campaign style and the way it handled its triumph in the elections have a surrealistic aura about them. Even the reaction of Vijay and associates to the Governor cold shouldering their legitimate demand has been unusual. For, political parties normally will pick up the cudgels immediately to establish their right to form the government, which the TVK has not done in the present episode. After all, they went to the Governor because their party was the largest group in the Assembly and should have persisted on being given a chance right away. If they came out meekly like school children trooping out of the headmistress’ chamber after being chastised and did not behave like real politicians who would have raised a hue and cry and immediately sought legal recourse, it was because the party has already decided to chalk its unique path away from the beaten and much trodden political routes that parties normally take. For example, the campaign for the Assembly elections itself proved that the TVK was unique in its vote gathering methods. Vijay told his fans – many of them are juveniles having not reached the voting age – to put pressure on their parents and other elders to vote for him. He did not tell them to explain the TVK’s USP, whatever it is, to the parents to garner their support but only urged them to employ their juvenile tactics. In several videos and speeches, Vijay told the adolescent brigade to adopt the childish adamant methods that children normally use to blackmail parents and elders to get hold of a candy or a toy by insisting on them to vote for the TVK. That by itself is a surreal technique to canvass for votes since it was using not only child power to wrest votes from grown up people but was also engaging child labour in an adult enterprise. That it worked without any hitch is something that should be given to Vijay since the elections saw several titans of electoral politics, including Chief Minister M K Stalin, falling by the wayside and totally unknown new faces triumphing. But surrealism is something that Vijay has been employing to paint his political canvases always. The classic example was the way in which he dealt with the stampede of September 27, 2025, at Karur that took a toll of 41 innocent lives, including children, by blending a dream like imagery with a harsh and painful reality to create bizarre, illogical or super realistic scenes in the narrative. While it was very clear from recorded visuals that the stampede was due to the heavy rush at the meeting venue and the death toll was so high because people had to wait for long hours without water and food, Vijay simply blamed it all on the ruling party and did it with the flourish of a Salvador Dali’s painting brush. That apart, his campaign, though not elaborate on the scale of other parties, was rather unconventional. He made his election speeches short and snappy without resorting to the traditional lengthy spiels that have been dominating the State’s political narrative so far and did not try to enunciate on his party’s political principles or ideology or vision for the future that the juvenile brigade might not grasp. Instead, like a sharp shooter, he aimed at the ruling party in the State and fired a fusillade of political barbs, besides throwing up challenges at the leaders of the ruling party. Like his dare to Chief Minister M K Stalin to meet him at his house after the Karur disaster. Not only did he give a surrealistic aura to the stampede, diluting the gravity of the tragedy, but also diverted the blame to others. Even the conduct and behavior of the fans or followers or supporters of Vijay has been bordering on the absurd since the beginning. How they perceived the refusal to Vijay to stake claim to form the government itself is not clear. Did they see a political conspiracy in it? If so, by whom? Perhaps they are waiting for Vijay himself to identify the conspirators so that they could do the follow up. Or, are they aware that there has been a denial of rights to their party. Well, in a surrealistic setting everything is vague.



Source link