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OC FARMERS: THE BJP’S UTTARAKHAND: ARMY: SMALL JAT HEADACHE DISASTER FORETOLD? ARMS, BIG PROBLEM FEBRUARY 22, 2021 `75 www.indiatoday.in 0-22 M.K. Stalin V.K. Sasikala President, DMK E.K. Palaniswami Leader, AMMK CM, Tamil Nadu TAMIL NADU GREAT RNI NO. 28587/75 REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2021-22-2023; LICENSED TO POST WPP NO. U(C )-88/2021-23; FARIDABAD/05/202 DL(ND)-11/6068/2021-22-2023; LICENSED TO POST WPP NO. 28587/75 REGISTERED NO. RNI NO. THE OPERA POLL THE STAR MASCOTS, WITHOUT THEIR EVEN THE MAJOR DRAVIDIAN BATTLE BETWEEN PARTIES PROMISES TO BE A POTBOILER FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF or over half a century, every election in Tamil Nadu India Today State of the States survey in 2020, Tamil Nadu has unfolded against the backdrop of its towering had registered a growth rate higher than the national average political personalities. The state’s politics has been for a third consecutive year. At 8.03 per cent, it was double F intertwined with its film industry unlike in any the all-India average of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. The state’s other Indian state. The century-old Dravidian movement per capita income in the same year was Rs 1,53,853, taking it used the charisma of popular stars like MGR and scripts by from 12th place in the previous year to sixth position. Since M. Karunanidhi and C.N. Annadurai to further its ideology. 1994, poverty in Tamil Nadu has declined steadily both in The movement combined Tamil identity and language to urban and rural areas. oppose caste, temple worship and rituals. This combination worked spectacularly in a cinema-obsessed state where the he two national parties—BJP and Congress—are only bit lines between stardom and idol worship often got blurred. T players in this arena. However, the BJP’s performance this The DMK first captured power from the time could be part of a larger design to expand Congress in 1967. Since then, the two Dravid- its electoral footprint. The fact that the party is ian parties, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra in power at the Centre makes it a strong ally for a Kazhagam), and its offshoot, the AIADMK (All THE DRAVIDIAN regional party like the AIADMK, especially in the India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), LEGACY absence of a powerful icon like Jayalalithaa. have ruled the state. The DMK has won on five Our cover story, ‘The Great Poll Opera’, has occasions since 1967 and the AIADMK seven been written by Deputy Editor Amarnath K. times since 1977. The first AIADMK govern- Menon, who has covered Tamil Nadu for 43 ment was dismissed in three years but the party years now. “The AIADMK,” he says, “is invok- won the following election in 1980. ing Amma’s benevolence, welfare measures and In 2016, J. Jayalalithaa’s magnetism and her development to woo voters, while the DMK is populist politics helped her buck anti-incum- targeting it for alleged poor governance and cor- bency and return to power. She passed away ruption.” AIADMK leaders are famously wary later that year. Her principal opponent, DMK of sharing access and information freely. The patriarch and the state’s longest-serving chief February 15, 1989 only time Jayalalithaa granted Menon a media minister, Karunanidhi, died two years later at interview was in June 1982, days before MGR the age of 94. The demise of these two Dravid- inducted her into the AIADMK. Scheduled to ian stalwarts and the unprecedented vacuum meet at her Poes Garden residence, Jayalalithaa it left in the state’s politics was heightened last asked her staff to bring a bulky Panasonic cas- December when superstar Rajinikanth an- sette player to record their conversation. The nounced his exit from political contention. DMK, like most regional parties in the south, This is what makes the upcoming election continues to be a family affair and equally intol- in Tamil Nadu so different. Yet, one also feels erant of anything adverse in the media. a sense of anticipation in the run-up to the This time around, the election looks poised election just two months away. Chief Minister May 30, 2011 for what could be a nail-biting finish. The E.K. Palaniswami and Deputy CM O. Pan- AIADMK, which won 40.88 per cent of the votes neerselvam have successfully run the AIADMK in 2016, was only marginally ahead of the DMK, government in the past four and a half years. Having car- which garnered a 39.85 per cent vote share. Voting in the ried forward the dole politics of MGR-Jayalalithaa, they are state is not based on any one dominant caste but on multiple invoking Amma’s legacy again to ask for another five-year caste groups. Hence, both parties have turned to smaller term, dedicating museums and memorials to the leader caste-based parties like the PMK and the DMDK to shore up and, more recently, a Rs 12,000 crore farm loan waiver. their winnability. The AIADMK, which needs a majority in Pitted against them is the 67-year-old M.K. Stalin, the 234-seat assembly, is unlikely to cede more than 70 seats Karunanidhi’s political heir and the present DMK chief. to alliance partner BJP and the smaller parties. There is also Jayalalithaa’s long-time associate V.K. Sasikala There is also movie star Kamal Haasan’s recently-launched a.k.a. ‘Chinamma’. She seemed poised to seamlessly inherit political party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), which is con- Jayalalithaa’s mantle till she was sent to prison in Karnataka testing all seats as a third front. However, while Haasan may in a disproportionate assets case in 2017 and ejected from be a popular actor, politically, he is a bantamweight. the party. Her recent return to Chennai at the head of a long- The forthcoming Tamil Nadu poll is certainly an un- winding motorcade was movie star-like. However, it remains precedented one and the result uncertain. For that reason, to be seen whether her influence will extend beyond the four perhaps, it is also a most-awaited election. districts dominated by her Thevar community. At stake in this political battle is a state which sends 39 members to the Lok Sabha, the fifth-largest block of seats. It is also a heavily industrialised state and boasts of having India’s second-largest economy by nominal GDP—Rs 18.45 lakh crore—nearly the same as Pakistan’s. According to the (Aroon Purie) FEBRUARY 22, 2021 INDIA TODAY 5 UPFRONT LEISURE WEST BENGAL: A DALER MEHNDI: THREE-FRONT WAR PG 7 AT LARGE PG 59 www.indiatoday.in MINE GAMES Q&A WITH AT PANNA VIDHU VINOD CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aroon Purie VICE CHAIRPERSON: Kalli Purie PG 10 CHOPRA PG 66 GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Dinesh Bhatia GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Raj Chengappa CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER: Manoj Sharma GROUP CREATIVE EDITOR: Nilanjan Das; GROUP PHOTO EDITOR: Bandeep Singh MANAGING EDITORS: Kai Jabir Friese, Rajesh Jha EXECUTIVE EDITORS: S. Sahaya Ranjit, Sandeep Unnithan, Manisha Saroop; MUMBAI: M.G. Arun SENIOR DEPUTY EDITOR: HYDERABAD: Amarnath K. Menon DEPUTY EDITORS: Kaushik Deka, Shwweta Punj SENIOR EDITORS: Sasi Nair, Anilesh S. Mahajan MUMBAI: Suhani Singh; JAIPUR: Rohit Parihar SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Ashish Mukherjee MUMBAI: Kiran Dinkar Tare; PATNA: Amitabh Srivastava ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Sonali Acharjee KOLKATA: Romita Sengupta; BHOPAL: Rahul Noronha ASSISTANT EDITORS: Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri, Aditya Wig PHOTO DEPARTMENT: Yasir Iqbal (Deputy Chief Photographer), Rajwant Singh Rawat (Principal Photographer), Chandra Deep Kumar (Senior Photographer); MUMBAI: Mandar Suresh Deodhar (Chief Photographer) PHOTO RESEARCHERS: Prabhakar Tiwari (Chief Photo Researcher), Saloni Vaid (Principal Photo Researcher), CHIEF OF GRAPHICS: Tanmoy Chakraborty ART DEPARTMENT: Sanjay Piplani (Senior Art Director); Angshuman De (Art Director); Devajit Bora (Deputy Art Director); Vikas Verma (Associate Art Director); Siddhant Jumde (Senior Illustrator) PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT: Harish Agarwal (Chief of Production), Naveen Gupta (Chief Coordinator) ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Anil Fernandes (Impact) IMPACT TEAM Senior General Manager: Jitendra Lad (West) General Manager: Mayur Rastogi (North), Upendra Singh (Bangalore) COVER STORY Deputy General Manager: Indranil Chatterjee (East) GROUP CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER: Vivek Malhotra SALES AND OPERATIONS Deepak Bhatt, Senior General Manager (National Sales) THE GREAT POLL OPERA Vipin Bagga, General Manager (Operations) Rajeev Gandhi, Deputy General Manager (North) Even without their star mascots, the battle between Syed Asif Saleem, Regional Sales Manager (West) S Paramasivam, Deputy Regional Sales Manager (South) the major Dravidian parties promises to be a potboiler Piyush Ranjan Das, Senior Sales Manager (East) UTTARAKHAND FARMER PROTESTS KERALA Volume XLVI Number 8; For the week February 16-22, 2021, published on every Friday A RUDE THE JAT IN POLL ● Editorial/Corporate Office Living Media India Ltd., India Today Group Mediaplex, 32 38 44 FC-8, Sector-16A, Film City, Noida - 201301; Phone: 0120-4807100 REMINDER ENGINE POSITION ● Sub scriptions: For assistance contact Customer Care India Today Group, C-9, Sector-10, Noida (UP)-201301; Phones: Toll-free number: 1800 1800 100 (from A flash flood Why the BJP must worry The results of local BSNL/MTNL lines); (95120) 2479900 from Delhi and Faridabad; (0120) 2479900 highlights the need to about the Jat consolidation body polls have given from Rest of India (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.); Fax: (0120) 4078080; Mumbai: 022-66063411/3412, Kolkata: 033-40525327, Chennai: 044-24303200; protect the region’s on show in western UP, the CPI(M) campaign e-mail: [email protected] fragile ecology Haryana and Rajasthan a new life ● Sales: Direct all trade enquiries to General Manager (Sales), Living Media India Limited, C-9, Sector-10, Noida-201301 (UP) ● Regd.