Caste bickering reverberates in leadership vacuum

While

caste politics

was always a factor at the local level, Tamil Nadu could boast of leaders like Karunanidhi, MGR and Jayalalithaa who appealed to all sections. It also helped that, barring Kamaraj, all the chief ministers of the state came from castes that were numerically insignificant. As a result, no major

caste

grouping in the state -- thevars, vanniars, gounders, nadars and dalits -- felt threatened that any of the other caste group would dominate them.

The vacuum created by the death of Jayalalithaa has set off caste-based infighting and leadership tussles within the AIADMK. This has raised the question of whether a Mulayam Singh Yadav-type leader could emerge as a significant force in the state, commanding the loyalty of his or her caste and building an alliance based on caste arithmetic.

Seeking to protect the turf of the AIADMK, however, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), the parent organization of Dravidian parties, has come out in support of Sasikalaa. Calling her a faithful, loyal friend who showered affection on Jayalalithaa like a sister, an article on the DK website ‘Viduthalai’ warns against attempts by the BJP to sow the seeds of discord in a Dravidian party. It also dismissed any thevar-gounder divide among MLAs in the party as an ‘Aryan’ conspiracy.

Many Dravidian activists say that a purely caste-based faction or grouping cannot emerge as a prominent force in the state. They cite Anbumani losing badly in his vanniar turf this year when the PMK, whose support base is largely vanniar, contested alone. “Time and again people have proved that they don’t vote exclusively along caste lines,” says G Olivannan, a Dravidian movement activist.

Challenging the Dravidar Kazhagam,

Stalin

Rajangam, a dalit activist, says caste equations are very much a reality in the state and that attempts to protect the Dravidian turf are really a cover for OBCs to continue their domination. “The strong identification of the AIADMK with thevars that started in the 1990s due to Sasikalaa and her family could be sustained because of the appeal that Jayalalithaa had among all sections. The present leadership identified with thevars will have to be careful since all caste groups are conscious of their identity now and any excess will be opposed,” says Stalin Rajangam, a dalit activist based in Madurai, where thevars are numerous.

Krishna Ananth, a senior journalist and political observer, says a UP-like situation of Mulayam and Mayawati will not happen in TN. “There the most numerous OBC group is yadav. The most numerous dalit group is chamar. And you have these two powerful leaders of each of these two groups striking up caste-based alliances. In TN, the caste groups are too dispersed and fragmented. There just are too many of the OBC and dalit caste groups, each concentrated in some region,” says Ananth.

Ananth says caste-based fragmentation has already happened so a leader, who can somehow transcend it and ensure the boat is not rocked, is necessary. “So, in future, we may well see one section of the AIADMK moving towards a Stalin-led DMK. That would open up space for the BJP,” he adds.