Ahead of polls, TN leaders build own image over party

CHENNAI: TN politics has often been personality-driven, but the leaders rarely projected themselves beyond their parties. In a marked departure likely inspired by Narendra Modi, the campaigns of M K Stalin and Anbumani are aiming to project their individual merit, riding over any perceived demerit of their political party.
Ahead of the July 18 mega DMK rally in Cuddalore, 'Team Stalin' has come out with a song asking voters to deliver justice against what the DMK has called a non-functional AIADMK administration.In the Stalin campaign, the DMK – with many of its leaders facing corruption charges — is more a looming presence.
Anbumani, however, has been quite forthright in relegating his PMK, with its virulent and limited vanniyar base, to the background. On Wednesday, Anbumani launched the website that had only a perfunctory reference to PMK but was all about him and his vision. In his July 8 public meeting in Coimbatore, though Anbumani shared stage-space with PMK luminaries including his father, the message was that he, not his party, should occupy voters' mind-space.
These campaigns that also have a major social media component are being carried out by professionals. "Parties can either concentrate on their policies and philosophies or make famous their leader and his profile. Branding of personalities will definitely make an impact on the voters, especially close to elections," said brand expert Harish Bijoor.
Stalin's Cuddalore rally will be the second mass rally after the May event in Madurai. Despite the use of party colours, the look and feel of the stage in Madurai was new to DMK cadres. It was a Stalin show through and through – in the past it would have been a DMK meeting that Karunanidhi would have presided over.
The Cuddalore theme song starts with Stalin saying, "We need to save the country (Tamil Nadu) for which we will take a vow." After this, the song starts with 'O endan kanavu desame' (O my dream country) and goes on to state that it has collapsed and asks the people why they hesitate to seek justice. The song ends with a call to attend the July 18 public meeting.
Stalin has 39,400 followers on Twitter and has tweeted on various issues, including the Chennai Metro Rail launch when he thanked engineers, workers and contractors for their "hard work". Taking a leaf from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat campaign, Stalin says in a tweet, "let us keep the metro clean". Jayalalithaa may have tried to upend that publicity exercise by raking up the "slapping" incident but Stalin was quick to come back with a press release and assurances on social media. The DMK heir-apparent reacts to major issues, local or national, and his comments, be it sharp and terse or long statements, are quickly posted on Facebook, Twitter or WhatsApp.
With the elections not too far away, Anbumani Ramadoss is touring the regions where his party has little support. Without the baggage of a vanniyar party, Anbumani asks that voters there make him the chief minister since he is an alternative to AIADMK and DMK.
A campaign song he released on Wednesday calls for an Obamaesque change ("maatram" in Tamil) in the state. "I chose words like 'maatram' etc for people to remember it easily. I want to provide an alternative to the Dravidian parties and the best way to reach the masses is through slogans," Anbumani said.