It’s not common for a political spectacle, even if it’s more action packed than a cinema, to linger in the public imagination for more than a week. In that sense, the maiden political conference of Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam, the party launched by actor Vijay could be mistaken as a success for too many people are talking about it for too long in the modern day public sphere called social media, where it is a free for all. But what makes this particular ‘political development’ – the uncharitable nitpicking lot says that it cannot be termed either as a development or as political – stand out is the huge turnout.
Though what was launched last Sunday at a village called V Salai near Vikravandi in Villupuram district was indeed a political party with its own registered name, official flag, a complete set of office-bearers, a song of its own, policies, principles and objectives, there were some who refused to accord that recognition. But the party had its leader, whose popularity alone drew that crowd, whatever was the head count. Why, then, was that event at that obscure village had to go through post-mortem, dissection, criticism, analysis and scrutiny that the over 2800 political parties are not subjected to? There are too many reasons behind it. One distinguishing fact is the young crowd that the meeting attracted. It is not the exact numbers that mattered but the apparent zeitgeist.
Supporters of other political parties or rather detractors of Vijay were quick to point out that there had been earlier party launches with bigger crowds and several photographs were also shared on social media to sort of send across the message that there was nothing so great about the crowd in V Salai. But what made the cacophony of nitpicking sound hollow was that the young people who braved all odds to be there had a singular purpose. They all wanted to see their matinee idol in flesh and blood, even if it is from a distance. Even the emcee of the meeting had not seen Vijay earlier. It was only after making the announcement of Vijay’s arrival at the venue that she herself could catch a glimpse of him.
For me, the meeting that I watched on television, brought back memories of another such political gathering that also saw a huge congregation arriving at the venue a night in advance to just have a glimpse of their political icon, who had already established himself as a popular ruler of the State and was revered as a demi-God by his followers. I was at the venue at St Thomas Mount area in Chennai on that dewy morning in February, 1985, and watched the developments from far afar, perched on some structure fully surrounded by a mass of people, presenting a spectacle that was more action-packed than cinema.
That was the first time I saw such a huge gathering anywhere personally. And that was the first time I saw fully grown, brawny, tough looking men breaking down in tears. The political leader who was the cynosure of millions of eyes that early morning, as most of you might have guessed, was MGR or M G Ramachandran. On the stage that was far away from my perch, I remember seeing MGR as a frail man waving to the unprecedented crowd that went berserk in mass hysteria. The people had come to only see him and confirm that he had recovered from the illness that took him to distant USA for treatment. They had overwhelmingly voted for him in the 1984 Assembly election when he was admitted to a hospital in New York for treatment of his failed kidneys. Now he was returning home on February 4, 1985, when the crowds had come to greet him.
It was indeed an emotional moment for the admirers of MGR to see him back waving at them mainly because there were rumours floating around that the AIADMK leader, who had been the Chief Minister since 1977, had passed away in the US after he was airlifted there in October, 1984. To dispel those rumours the AIADMK had released, as part of election propaganda, videos showing MGR with his wife in the hospital to drive home the point that he would return to occupy the Chief Minister’s chair. And MGR did that precisely that morning by returning. And the crowds went back home happy as that was all that they wanted: To make sure the man for whom they voted a couple of months earlier is at the helm of affairs in the State.
I remember a pious looking gentleman striking a conversation with me on board the Tambaram bound EMU that I boarded after MGR was driven away from the stage and the sea of humanity that had gathered in several grounds and the roads in the locality had dispersed. He put things in perspective for me. Now that he had seen with his own eyes a hale and hearty MGR, he need not rely on the various versions of others. That was perhaps the feeling of all those who had gathered, braving the biting cold in the night. In fact, the crowds started landing from all over the State the previous evening itself displaying a spirit with exemplary dedication, affection and devotion to the man they had come to see. Well, that was something unparalleled in history and rather quintessential.