The patience led way to celebration; it was a mass catharsis for a crowd that was watching the nuanced political play for the last two days restlessly.
Among the followers stood a group of four women from the Idukki district of Kerala. They had been camping on the pavement for three days, shivering through viral fever and the sweltering Chennai humidity.
“We haven’t slept. We’ve been sitting here with a fever just to know if this was the end of the road or a new beginning,” said one woman to PTI Videos, her voice cracking with emotion. “When we heard the word ‘support’, we didn’t cheer — we just went to the temple and cried. God has finally seen the injustice we faced.”
The rhetoric on the ground was steeped in the cinematic and political legacy of the state. For the older generation of cadres, Vijay’s rise is a resurrection of the ‘Puratchi Thalaivar’ (MGR) era.
“I have seen MGR (M G Ramachandran). I have seen Jayalalithaa. This seat belongs to them, and after them, no one was worthy enough to sit there until today,” shouted an elderly supporter, Joseph, as he fought through the crush of the crowd. “The ‘Kalla Kootani’ (secret alliance) between the two giants has been ripped apart. We have ended the ‘B-Team’ politics once and for all.”
Younger supporters were seen dancing, celebrating what they called the “escape” from traditional party machinery. “We were being suppressed, held back by the old guard. Stalin (DMK chief) thought he could control the youth, but we’ve broken the gates open,” said a college student who had come from Madurai.The election has been a bruising one for the established giants. The DMK, led by M K Stalin, saw its stronghold in Chennai crumble, with TVK winning 14 of the 16 seats in the district. In a historic upset, Stalin’s own bastion, Kolathur, was wrested away by TVK candidate V S Babu.
And yet, without a clear majority, Vijay’s TVK has been struggling for the past three days even with the Congress (5 seats) signalling its intent to back TVK to “respect the mandate” and keep the BJP at bay.
Vijay is scheduled to meet Governor Rajendra Arlekar later in the day to stake his formal claim. This will be his third meeting with the Governor since his party won the 108 seats.
In a major boost to its efforts to form a government in Tamil Nadu, TVK received the support of the two Left parties on Friday, bringing it closer to the magic number of 118 legislators required for a simple majority.
Political analysts suggest that while the numbers are now in Vijay’s favour, the challenges of heading a coalition with ideologically diverse partners like the Congress and the Left will be his first real test as a statesman. But for now, the moment belongs to “Thalapathy” fans, as the state prepares to witness a new chapter in its storied political history.
