A peak election season in TN gets under way sans stage meetings on streets
CHENNAI: An old two-storey house painted yellow reveals a plaque with the name Kavignar Tamildasan at Pillayar Koil Street in Triplicane. Inside the house, a man clad in a white shirt and trousers is busy taking notes for a campaign speech to be delivered in the evening for DMK at Royapuram.Tamildasan, 72, who has been a veteran campaigner for DMK for more than five decades, says the golden era for party-affiliated speakers seems to be on the wane as peak election season is on without street-corner meetings this time.A combination of reasons, including overshooting poll expenditure, lack of public interest, and the popularity of social media, is cited for fewer meetings this season. In the olden days, political candidates and leaders used to draw crowds with their oratorical skills, wit, satire, theatrical flair, sharp punchlines and long rhythmic sentences. “I used to speak at 40 or 50 meetings during peak election season. However, I now cover only two or three meetings,” Tamildasan says.AIADMK’s state minority wing joint secretary and speaker Jawhar Ali says people have lost interest in political speeches.“Crowds gather only to get a glimpse of cinema stars and big leaders. So, political parties and candidates have shifted their focus to social media campaigns and television debates,” says Jawhar Ali.Duration for election campaigns has reduced from nearly two months to three weeks, says N Ezhilan, DMK’s MLA candidate for Thousand Lights constituency. “Organising street-corner meetings requires police permission and setting up a stage. But with door-to-door campaigning, we can cover hundreds of houses and voters,” said Ezhilan. Some candidates prefer organising meetings in crowded places and broadcasting recorded speeches. “To avoid expenditure, we are broadcasting recorded speeches through autorickshaws,” said Aadi Rajaram, AIADMK’s Chepauk-Triplicane MLA candidate. “Election Commission of India adds the expenditure for street-corner meetings to the candidate’s expenditure. This is the main reason why we see fewer street-corner meetings this time,” DMK’s spokesperson T K S Elangovan said. AIADMK’s former minister Vaigaiselvan said it’s a sign of change and that parties prefer social media over street-corner meetings.“The quality of listeners has improved, and the quality of the speakers has declined. With fewer speakers giving informative speeches, street-corner meetings have lost their place in the campaign,” he added.
