OPINION: FIREWORKS OR WET FIRECRACKER? HOW BJP MAY FARE IN TAMIL NADU CONGRESS FORT VIRUDHUNAGAR

A cracker of a contest is on in the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency, the country's fireworks manufacturing hub. R Raadhika, the Bharatiya Janata Party's star candidate and V Vijaya Prabhakaran, the son of DMDK founder and actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth, have turned the Congress bastion — from where the late Chief Minister K Kamaraj hailed — filmy.

For Raadhika, the managing director of Radaan Media Works India Limited, the super hit Tamil films 'Surya Vamsam' and 'Naattaamai' starring her husband, actor Sarathkumar (who recently merged his party All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi with the BJP) comes in handy to pep up her speech in a cinematic fashion.

"Like Chinnarasu (Sarathkumar) encouraging his wife in Surya Vamsam, my husband has paved the way for me to contest the elections and stands behind me as a pillar of support. For any problem in the constituency, I will seek help from 'Naattaamai' (Sarathkumar), meaning village head in Tamil, and he will take care," she told party workers meeting in Aruppukottai. Sarathkumar too reciprocated with a promise to cadres that he would not rest until making his real-life wife an MP, just as he made the heroine in 'Surya Vamsam' a collector.

Raadhika, whose father, actor MR Radha, was an ardent Periyar follower, appears to share a bond with Prabhakaran, whose father she paired with in scores of films. Asked about her reaction to Prabhakaran's candidature opposite her by the reporters, the 61-year-old actress said, "He is like my son."

Sharing the film world camaraderie, 33-year-old Prabhakaran delivered a dialogue laced with sentiments in the same measure on Wednesday: "Not only Raadhika amma, every mother in Virudhunagar constituency sees me as their son. I thank Raadhika amma. We are family friends."

Though both debutants hail from Chennai and so are considered "aliens" to the constituency, Raadhika, who also doubles as a TV serial actor, needs no introduction, and Prabhakaran, by virtue of being Vijayakanth's son, rides on his father's popularity and the strength of ally AIADMK.

Manickam Tagore, a local and two-time Parliamentarian who is hoping for another easy win, banks on Congress's traditional vote bank, his familiarity with the electorate, and ally and ruling DMK's organisational ability. Virudhunagar being the hometown of Congress stalwart Kamaraj, a "kingmaker" who helped bring Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to power in 1966, the constituency has been a Congress fort for decades.

The incumbent MP represented the constituency from 2009 to 2014, during which time, he says, several projects were executed, including a new terminal at Madurai airport, international connectivity, and the Madurai-Kanniyakumari four-lane National Highway via Virudhunagar. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he trumped his nearest rival DMDK candidate R Alagarsamy by over 1.5 lakh votes. The DMDK was a part of the AIADMK-led alliance, but the BJP was also their ally then.

Concentrated with Tamil-speaking Nadar and Mukkulathor castes and several Telugu-speaking castes such as Naidus, Reddys, and Rajus, the constituency with six Assembly segments including Sivakasi, the country's fireworks capital, is witnessing a three-cornered contest. With caste equations also deciding the voting pattern in the state in general and the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency in particular, Raadhika, whose father is a Naidu, has been mobilising support from caste outfits with her Nadar husband in tow.

The Kollywood couple met Nadar Mahajana Sangam secretary G Karikolraj, who wields influence among the Nadar community, major fireworks manufacturers and top entrepreneurs in the constituency, after kickstarting their election work with a visit to the Murugan Temple at Thiruparankundram, a part of the constituency. Fireworks production has always been a political issue in the constituency and surfaces during every election. Fireworks being the major employment-generating industry in the district, the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association (TANFAMA) president P Ganesan said, "The industry with 1080 factories in the district provides direct employment to three lakh people and indirect jobs to five lakh people. As the use of Barium Nitrate is not allowed and as the production of 60 per cent of fireworks is not possible without it, we are meeting the political party leaders to present our case to boost production and tap export opportunities."

While the TANFAMA office-bearers met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin on Wednesday and submitted their demands, they apprised Raadhika of the situation when she called on them and requested her to take it up if she is elected to Parliament. The young DMDK candidate, however, has not touched upon the issue so far. Toeing the BJP line, all Prabhakaran says is that he would address the shortcomings of the sitting MP and work towards fulfilling the needs and aspirations of the people.

"The party has grown in the constituency. Our candidate's silver and small screen popularity and the dissatisfaction among the voters over the sitting Congress MP's poor performance will help us wrest the seat from our rival," claims MSPSC Selvakumar, the BJP's media coordinator for Virudhunagar.

Asked about his performance as an MP, Manickam Tagore said he had continuously raised his voice in the Parliament for his people, protested against the injustice meted out to them and got suspended thrice. "The BJP's promises such as AIIMS in Madurai and the Madurai-Aruppukottai railway line remain only on paper. The 28 per cent GST on firecrackers has badly affected the industry and the livelihood of the people," he said.

Dismissing his two main rivals as "outsiders", he told India Today, "They are both taking baby steps in electoral politics which is not a child's play and getting to know the geography of the constituency only now." Whether the voters will embrace the "outsiders" or oust them remains to be seen.  

2024-03-28T13:00:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd