NTK gains ground in TN, 3rd in vote share

Chennai: With the two Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, re-sealing their positions in the recently concluded assembly elections, the smaller parties that hoped to be an alternative or form a third front didn’t win any seat but have split the votes

Chennai: With the two Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, re-sealing their positions in the recently concluded assembly elections, the smaller parties that hoped to be an alternative or form a third front didn’t win any seat but have split the votes. Among them, Tamil nationalist S Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) emerged from a fringe outfit to being recognised as a contender.

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NTK came third with 6.7% vote share —below the DMK and AIADMK. The party had only 1% vote share in the 2016 assembly elections. Many of its candidates also finished third in constituencies. The party has been growing steadily having polled 4% of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While most of the attention was on how the AIADMK’s rebel faction, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhazgam (AMMK) led by TTV Dhinakaran, and actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) would perform, the Seeman-led party out performed them. AMMK and MNM polled 2.47% and 2.45% votes.

Seeman has captured the voters with his fist-thumping oratory and switching from classical Tamil to colloquial expletives. Interviews from voters in the north, west and south regions indicated that they liked his ethno-nationalistic speeches peppered with emotions that bashed the status quo. Some, fed up with the Dravidian parties that have successively ruled Tamil Nadu, felt Seeman could be given a chance as an alternative. In part, these are the voters who had previously backed parties like Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) founded by actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth in 2005. DMDK was promising in its early days, and Vijayakanth even became the leader of the opposition when J Jayalalithaa was chief minister in 2011, but the party has got only 0.45% votes this time. Vaiko too after leaving the DMK developed his Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) on a fervent Tamil pitch but dwindled and is back as an ally in the DMK fold, while Seeman has captured this space.

Seeman started his party with a goal of an independent statehood for Lankan Tamils, a year after the LTTE was defeated in the Sri Lankan war in 2009. A passionate and polarising orator, Seeman has refused to tie up with any party because he fights on the plank of anti-corruption besides Tamil rights. He has dismissed Dravidian parties, espoused a militant Tamil majoritarian and linguistic pride. His position has been that a Tamil should rule Tamil Nadu.

Political observers predicted that while Dhinakaran will eat into AIADMK’s voter base and Haasan will draw in the urban crowd, Seeman would gain from rural areas. “We have broken such projections in this election,” said Packiarajan Sethuramalingam, NTK’s spokesperson. “The perception is that the elite won’t vote for us, but we have polled more than 290,000 votes in Chennai and more than 100,000 each in Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai.” Haasan’s MNM however came third in 12 of the 16 assembly constituencies in Chennai. The NTK wants its base to grow across Tamil Nadu and not be confined to a region or caste. “Dravidian parties have their presence across the state. Similarly, as an alternative our strategy to gradually build our presence is working,” Sethuramalingam said.

Seeman’s rise is also discomforting to political analysts. “The emergence of Seeman as a third player is a matter of concern because they’re more like a cult than a political party,” says political commentator Maalan Narayanan. “What he speaks on a platform may be catchy among youngsters but it would not be practical. Like, he says if they come to power he won’t clear the state’s debts created by the previous governments. He still uses language similar to LTTE which may work for military outfit but not in an electoral democracy.”

Another reason for NTK’s increase in votes polled is the arithmetic. NTK contested in all 234 constituencies and half the candidates were women. “We were criticised that we can afford to field 117 women because we are a small party but 14-lakh of our votes went to women and 16-lakh to men. That society is accepting these changes is revolutionary for us” said Sethuramalingam. Their only disappointment is not being able to enter the assembly this year. Seeman lost as their chief ministerial candidate from Chennai’s Thiruvottiyor constituency. Like in previous elections, NTK didn’t forge an alliance with anyone. This consistent conscious decision has worked in favour of the party’s image.

The other fledgling parties didn’t go it alone and didn’t have much choice left, as several regional and the two national parties, Congress and BJP, were in the DMK and AIADMK alliances; AMMK, abandoned by VK Sasikala, contested in 161 seats, took in a wounded DMDK -- now led by Vijayakanth’s family due to his health issues. DMDK walked out of the AIADMK unhappy with the seats allotted and Dhinakaran gave away 60 seats to them and the remaining to SDPI, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and others. MNM contested in 135 seats and offered the remaining seats to little known parties who had walked out of the AIADMK and DMK alliances -- Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi (IJK) -- 40 and All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi (AISMK) -- 37.