The DMDK is no longer a one-man show. It is as much Premalatha’s party as Vijayakant’s.
There is a narrative about Vijayakant’s journey from cinema to politics, which most political observers agree goes something like this. By the turn of the century, he had begun to realise that his best years in cinema were behind him. He made a conscious attempt to refurbish his image in his last few films. He already had to his credit hugely popular films including Pulan Visaranai and Captain Prabhakaran , which earned him his moniker.
He made films where he played all kinds of roles – from a college professor in Ramana to a savvy IAS officer who took on the corrupt establishment in Thennavan . Meanwhile, in an attempt to inherit the legacy of MGR, he began calling himself Karuppu MGR (black MGR).
By then, Vijayakant had begun to sense that the political path had cleared with Rajnikanth more or less signalling that he would not take the political plunge. His move to politics, in other words, was carefully planned though perhaps not obvious to others, and when he launched the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) in 2006, it took some people, even those close to him, by surprise.
But the little-known story is about who orchestrated and carefully managed this transition. His wife Premalatha was known to be content with her role as a homemaker. “Yes, it was Karunanidhi and Moopanar who presided over their marriage in Madurai in 1990. But Premalatha was an unknown quantity and had the image of a woman who had no interest beyond managing his film career and finances,” says a friend of the family.
It is not inconceivable that Premalatha would go on to manage Vijayakant’s political career once he took the plunge. But what nobody had bargained for is that she would become a force in her own right – moving almost seamlessly from being a backroom strategist to occupying political centre-stage.
Today, people listen to her speeches as intently as they would listen to Vijayakant’s, who has the tendency to ramble incoherently as he engages the crowd. At the recent party conference in the YMCA grounds in Chennai, Vijayakant had sworn to fight the Assembly elections alone to the cheers of the crowd. But when Premalatha took the mike once her husband was done, she subtly altered Vijayakant’s position, issuing an invitation to parties who were willing to fight the election under the DMDK’s leadership.
“This shows that she has a mind of her own and makes her own political calculations,” says V.M.S. Subagunarajan, editor of Kaatchi Pizhai , a serious film magazine.
As it transpired, this is exactly what happened with the People’s Welfare Front joining hands with the DMDK.
It was Premalatha who overruled those MLAs and district secretaries who were lobbying for an alliance with the DMK, arguing that while they were interested in winning seats, she was focussed on making Vijayakant the King, rather than Kingmaker.
Journalist Sudangan, a long-time friend of Vijayakant, says he believes that it was in fact Premalatha who planted the seed of political ambition in Vijayakant’s mind. He says, “Today, she calls most of the shots. The very fact that a seasoned politician and intellectual such as Panruti S. Ramachandran could not survive in the party is proof of Premalatha’s power. She consciously took him down a few pegs.”
There is a third power centre in the party – Premalatha’s brother L.K. Sudheesh – who follows her like a shadow.
Her oratory and her campaign style are controversial as she delivers her speeches in a language that is raw in its unabashed directness. But the lack of refinement is a part of the persona she has created for herself – an image of someone who is confrontational by nature and uncompromising when dealing with political opponents. Says Dravidian historian K. Thirunavaukkarasu: “As the wife of the leader who enjoys an almost equal status in the party, we expect that she will not stoop to the level of an ordinary platform speaker of the party.”
Whether such controversial tactics will work remain to be seen, but increasingly the DMDK is being regarded as her party as much as her husband’s. In truth, they are Tamil Nadu’s only power couple.
