The Question of Populism in Tamil Nadu

Populism is the whole idea of representing the ordinary people and speaking for them. In populism the society is being divided into two elites. The one is “the pure people” and the other group is “the corrupt elite”. The populists fight for the will of the people, and aim to represent the people and lead their politics on behalf of the citizens. However, in this context, there are different elites that the politicians represent, for example there would be populists representing different communities, genders and age groups. Populism has played a significant role in Tamil Nadu over the years. In this regard, it is highly relevant to mention the two leading parties in Tamil Nadu, and their unique way of applying populism in their policies. Being a populist, you do not solely talk for the benefits of people – you do also highlight the ”other” group or groups, also known as the corrupt elite, which are contradictory in their political views. Two of the greatest and most successful political parties of Tamil Nadu are the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kalagam) and AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kalagam).

The parties are resistance parties, and especially in this connection, it is relevant to assert a commonwealth among both parties – which is the mutual hostility. The fact that these two parties have contradictory elements in their "populist politics" is a key factor for why these parties are each other's opponents, and why they have different target groups. Among these, there are two different strategies - "empowerment populism" and "protection populism". AIADMK was strongly influenced by the ”protection populism” which was intended to take care of the weakest in society, and provide for them as well as protect them. In contradiction to this fact, DMK's populism was targeted towards the middle class of the society. AIADMK's main purpose was to raise the poor and weak in society. This strategy leads back to MGR's time. MGR was very famous among the backward caste and class, and he especially had a great support from the women in this elite – which was due to his roles as a ”superhero” in his movies, and his special consideration regarding the women in society through speeches. Also, J. Jayalalitha joining his party, gave a lot of hope among the female followers, as it was the first time Tamil Nadu experienced to have such a valuable and powerful female leader.

Some sources indicate that MGR’s image in certain movies, where he was portrayed as an individual who belonged to a low-caste family, made the lower caste elite relate to him, and they were able to accept the ”reel-hero” as their ”real-hero”. M.G. Ramachandran represented the ordinary citizen, by being the people’s representative, also known as ”Makkal Thilagam” in Tamil. Jayalalithaa, who has been the core of AIADMK since the loss of MGR, followed his footsteps and paid special attention to the vulnerable in society in the community, by providing food for the poor, laptops for the students and by her speeches for women and the low casted individuals.

An interesting factor in relation to populism in Tamil Nadu is the goods which are offered to the different target groups. This has been happening for ages, and the recent election in RK Nagar, Chennai, has proven that the value of money and materials have won over democracy. This situation is a good example on how materialistic populism has a great success in Tamil Nadu. “Some things can’t just be changed in Tamil Nadu, which makes people like us be selfish and vote for the party who can provide us some goods” said Sreethar, a low class worker, whom I met during my fieldwork in a slum. Sreethar was in his late 30s, and was very much unsatisfied with the current government of Tamil Nadu, after the loss of Jayalalitha.

We have the understanding that populism represents specific elites: Empowerment populism “…which holds the people who have been robbed by an alien and privileged elite” and ”Protection populism” which holds the people that have been robbed by selfish special interests and it is the role of the elite or of the government, to keep those interests in check and to protect and to provide for the poor”. There is no doubt that protection populism has been more successful in Tamil Nadu than the empowerment populism, since it has contributed to protect and provide for the poor, as Swamy argues. Especially taking MGR and AIADMK’s success into account, one can argue, that this strategy has played a major role in the politics of Tamil Nadu.