Tamil Nadu’s actor-politicians and their crusade against corruption

Actor and TVK founder C. Joseph Vijay’s anti-corruption plank is nothing new as the film stars floating their own parties in Tamil Nadu have taken up the same theme to cut a name for themselves and to garner a massive vote. After he launched ADMK (later AIADMK) in 1972, M.G. Ramachandran said the DMK leaders had rejected his demand for disclosure of assets by partymen. Asked about Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi’s statement that he had been given time to “express regret”, MGR said he would not express regret as long as he lived. Instead, the DMK leaders should express regret, he added.

When he landed in Coimbatore in November, the police had a tough time as the partymen broke the barricades and stormed the aircraft in which he landed. At a public meeting in Tiruppur, he announced that the ADMK-CPI agitation would “paralyse” the DMK government. When he asked the crowd if they were ready for any sacrifice to remove the corrupt and bureaucratic DMK from power, the crowd responded in the affirmative in one voice.

When Jayalalithaa floated her faction, AIADMK (Jayalalitha), in 1989 after the death of her mentor MGR, she promised in her election manifesto a clean and efficient government. “A new era in Tamil Nadu politics was ushered in when MGR was in the saddle for 11 years. But after he fell seriously ill in 1984, there was chaos and confusion and people around him exploited his physical incapacity. Following his death, the corrupt elements have remained in a faction and the responsibility has fallen on the AIADMK (Jayalalitha) to pursue the crusade of MGR. It will be the party’s commitment to the electorate to establish MGR’s rule, committed to the welfare of the people,” the manifesto said.

Corruption charges

However, her first government (1991-96) faced numerous corruption charges and eventually Jayalalithaa herself was prosecuted for acquiring wealth disproportionate to the known sources of her income. Her close aide V.K. Sasikala went to jail, while charges against Jayalalithaa “abated” after her death.

DMDK founder Vijayakant was another anti-corruption crusader. The actor-turned politician said he would not rest without putting a full stop to the “injustice” meted out to the people by the two main Dravidian parties — the DMK and the AIADMK — over the years. During his campaigns in 2006, he often stuck to his slogan on his pet theme of corruption by the Dravidian majors. “The fight against the British was vellaiyane veliyeru [the Quit India Movement]. Now, it’s time for us to oust the corrupt forces, so it is kollaiyane veliyeru,” was his slogan. He attacked the DMK and the AIADMK as evil forces. But he was in alliance with the AIADMK for the 2011 Assembly election and went on to become Leader of the Opposition.

‘Between the good and the evil’

He was heading a new alliance, called People’s Welfare Front, ahead of the 2016 Assembly election. He said both the DMK and the AIADMK had cheated the people for decades. “This is a battle between the good and the evil,” he said, terming the third front an alternative to the corrupt parties. “My alliance is with people” was his catch-phrase from the time he started his party in 2005.

Cut to the present, and Mr. Vijay has latched on to the anti-corruption campaign, targeting mainly the ruling DMK. This February, he likened criticism directed at him to attacks faced by MGR when founded the AIADMK in 1972 and mocked the DMK and other parties for repeating the criticism that he was a political novice. He has framed the 2026 election as a contest between the TVK and the DMK, and the parties under the BJP leadership. Introducing his party candidates, he declared that the contest was between the TVK and the “dangerously corrupt” DMK.