Winning elections has become a cake walk for AIADMK Chief, J Jayalalithaa. The states if Tamil Nadu and Kerala have always stuck up to the tradition of extruding off the incumbent government after every term of five years. Although Kerala stood by it, Tamil Nadu had yet again startled everyone around by defying the tradition.
The TN voters have restored their faith in Jaya again. Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi have swapped their positions as CMs for over 25 years now. Both of them were in squabbling this time as well. However, there was no audible anger against the incumbent Jayalalithaa, the possible rescue for her was the “Chennai Floods”.
Most of them say she has conquered the hearts and minds of the disadvantaged sections in both urban and rural areas with a series of pro-poor measures which some of her critics would call ‘populist thought’, and would consequently stag the tradition this time.
There was another major difference in the electoral scene in the province this year – it was not strictly bipolar this year. Apart from the DMK and AIDMK, there was a third front led by DMDK chief Vijayakanth, which was expected to muddy the electoral waters within the state during this election. No one expected the federal front to win, but no one was certain if the new outfit would take a lot of votes of Jayalalithaa or Karunanidhi. If Karunanidhi was to be the victim of the third front vote share, then Jayalalitha was expected to romp home. Clearly, that did happen. This time, the wave was called Yo-Yo wave.
“Only a mother knows what her children want,” Jayalalithaa Jayaram said in her aggressive campaign speeches this month as Tamil Nadu arguably saw its most bitterly fought state assembly elections yet. She won the elections effortlessly ,singlehandedly, without any allies; this was a major victory for her. Although this election was fought singlehandedly, there wasn’t much campaigning or speeches or even online campaign AIADMK did compared to DMK.
Her ideas and manifestos were nothing new, except for the fact that she introduced a new loan scheme for women who were planning to buy scooters and promised to give free phone additionally with all the other freebies her party gave away previously. This time, she won it because of her ideas to uplift the poor and make the city a poverty free one. Men also had supported her because she had promised employment and prompted on liquor ban.
DMK’s treasurer MK Stalin who had campaigned for his father had invested a huge sum, his daughter in law was his backbone and planner. She had arranged, planned and prepared for every rally, campaign, and the speech she made. Unlike Stalin, Jayalalithaa had only gone on a state tour, she visited most of the rural and urban areas of TN. Her tour didn’t have much of propaganda or noise.
The exit polls that happen immediately after the casting of votes, miserably proven wrong yet again. The polls and analysts expected DMK to win but the results transgressed the exit poll expectations to an extent that was unimaginable. This analysis was made on the basis of Jaya’s arrest in 2014, liquor ban in the state. Liquor ban was one reason to say she could have lost the men’s support this time.
After results were declared this morning, there wasn’t much of an uproar in the State’s capital. Later this evening, a few supporters of AIADMK had silently celebrated the victory, by silence here it means- with less voice and crackers. The supporters of the party danced and rejoiced her victory. Whether it’s her or him, TN is developed and will develop either way. Neither he or she is bad or good. At the end, all that matters is how much will TN develop or how far is TN going reach in terms of economy, finance, literacy, and health.
Hoping she will be a better choice as always most of the TN residents entrust their voice and support in AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa.
