For a political party, whose appeal is confined to Northern and North-western regions of Tamil Nadu, the Pattali Makkal Katchi’s (PMK) aspiration to replace the Dravidian parties in the next Assembly elections sounds ambitious, especially after its defeats in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls and in the 2011 general election.
But PMK founder S. Ramadoss and its Chief Ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss refuse to be disheartened and are painting the DMK and AIADMK with the same brush. While the party boasted of its ability to hop on to the winning horse in each election, the reverses in the last three poll outings have punctured this claim notwithstanding Anbumani’s Lok Sabha debut from Dharmapuri in 2014.
At the moment it is not clear whether the PMK’s self-imposed isolation is a tactic to raise its stakes closer to the election or a clear-eyed strategy aimed at the long term in a fractured Tamil polity. The reality though is that the party’s individual vote share is grossly inadequate to dislodge either of the bigger Dravidian parties and having not fully emerged from its Vanniyar cocoon, the PMK may not easily find wider appeal.
Anbumani is confident that the political realignment expected to take place early next year after the announcement of election date would enable his party to take advantage of the situation and present itself as a credible alternative. However, former IAS officer M.G. Devasahayam feels the PMK so far has not succeeded in projecting itself as a political party capable of good governance.
“It has been successful in presenting Anbumani as a Chief Ministerial candidate on the lines of the campaign resorted to by US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But it has not succeeded in selling the PMK as a fully democratic organisation,” contended Mr. Devasahayam. The party has only placed an individual before the voters, even though it has a Dalit as its general secretary and a Muslim as treasurer.
Today the general secretary and treasurer have been reduced to titular heads. However there was a time when Dr. Ramadoss remained a hope for unity between Dalits and intermediate communities in the northern districts.
When PMK was offered a berth in the Vajpayee government in 1998, he made Dalit Ezhilmalai, the Union Minister of State for Health. He also made E. Ponnusamy, another Dalit, Union Minister of State. He worked closely with Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan in the Tamil Protection Movement and district secretaries of the VCK always wanted to sail with the PMK in the elections. But the electoral setbacks in 2009 and in 2014 saw its pan-Tamil identity politics giving way for sectarian Vanniyar mobilisation.
Mr. Devasahayam argues that when a political party seeks to replace the DMK and the AIADMK, deeply entrenched in Tamil society with their ideological trappings, the PMK needs to rework its strategy.
“It organised seven regional conference and they were well-attended. But there is no follow up in areas other than the hard-core PMK belt. I agree there is a mood against the over 40 decades of Dravidian rule. Of course Anbumani has got visibility. But what Tamil Nadu needs today is a political party with alternative ideology. The PMK should adopt a strategy to fill the space,” Mr. Devasahyam said.
Hypothetically speaking
Missing the Left turn The hurry with which the PMK projected Anbumani as the Chief Ministerial candidate has worked negatively for the party. Even though the Left parties share many of the policies and schemes of the PMK, they cannot work under a political party that has already declared its CM candidate. As the PMK cannot go back on its decision, it has to wait for a space that could be created after judicial verdicts in the 2G scam and the disproportionate assets cases. |
Haunting past The PMK’s past switching of alliances continues to haunt the party. But on more than one occasion, Ramadoss has described as “humiliating” that all his talk about alternative front was only posturing aimed at increasing his party’s claim for more seats in alliance. This would make it difficult to for him to change his mind. |
Taking the Right turn PMK’s only ally, the BJP, can play a crucial role on alliance formation at some point. The father and son are not averse to the BJP joining the PMK alliance. However, the question is what if the BJP looks to the AIADMK? |
Actor’s company Though politically miles apart, the PMK and actor Vijayakant’s DMDK could come together again as the latter may be unwilling to take the risk of going it alone. Such a combination may work well. |
