Tweet This
South Indian movie star Rajinikanth, one of Asia’s highest-paid and most popular actors, heralded the new year with the announcement that he is entering politics in his home state of Tamil Nadu.
In Chennai on Sunday, in a hall packed with supporters, the 67-year-old star who works primarily in Tamil cinema said that he would form his “own political party" ahead of the next Indian state assembly election. His aim is to contest "all 234 seats" in the assembly.
The state of Tamil Nadu has seen a political vacuum since December 2016 when Chief Minister Jayalalithaa Jayaram died. The unrest surrounding her demise led to a split in the ruling AIADMK party. Interestingly, Jayalalithaa was also previously a hugely popular film star.
Official announcement
Appealing to the emotions of his passionate fan base, Rajinikanth said that he felt that it was his "duty to change the system.”
“If I don't take this decision now, the guilt will haunt me," he said. "I am not doing it for any post or money or fame as I have enough." Rajinikanth also launched an app and a website to help enroll a supporter base to the proposed party.
While this is the first official announcement of his plans to become a politician, Rajinikanth has hinted at such a move on several occasions over the decades. Even as recently as May 2017, he told his fans to be "ready for war,” to take on the "corrupt" political system and a "rotten" democracy. "If God wills, I will enter politics tomorrow. If I do, I will be truthful and will not entertain the corrupt people," he said at the time.
Who is Rajinikanth?
Rajinikanth, whose real name is Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, has starred in almost 200 films since the mid-1970s when he began acting. His rags to riches story is well known in India. He worked as a bus conductor in the Bangalore before heading to Chennai to pursue an acting career, which has proved wildly successful.
In 2016, his film "Kabali" broke several major box office records, becoming a phenomenon in South India. Not only did it dominate social media on the day of its release, but several companies even gave employees the day off to go see it and an airline painted an aircraft specially for the film.
Referred to simply as "Superstar" and “Thallaivar,” which roughly translates to “leader” or “boss” in Tamil, Rajnikanth enjoys god-like adulation from his fans, particularly in Tamil Nadu, home to around 70 million people.
Change Tamil Nadu’s politics?
Rajinikanth seemed to indicate two major cornerstones of his political ideology in his announcement speech: an intolerance of corruption, and what he called “spiritual” politics without "caste" allegiances, making references to the Bhagvad Gita, a Hindu text.
For more than 50 years now, Tamil Nadu has been ruled by Dravidian parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), whose ideology is rooted in socialism and rationalism. Thus there is speculation around whether Rajinikanth's mention of spirituality was a subtle hint that he will try to associate himself with India’s ruling party the BJP, which has its ideological roots in Hinduism.
Exactly who Rajinikanth will align his party with and whether his popularity as an entertainer will translate seamlessly into a formidable vote base remains to be seen.
