Not bullets, ballot is the weapon for Veerappan's daughter to fulfil his vision

CHENNAI: At 33, she is relatively young for a Lok Sabha candidate, is armed with a law degree, and runs a kindergarten. In short, Vidhya Rani ticks the right boxes when it comes to gender, age, education and chosen profession. But that is not why her candidature became a talking point among the people. After all, when you are the daughter of dreaded forest brigand Veerappan, there is very little possibility of personal identity overshadowing that family history.

She was in Class 3 when Vidhya saw her father for the first time. The father and daughter met at her grandfather's house in Gopinatham, and spent all of 30 minutes talking. In a normal family, a child getting so little a time to spend with her father is unusual. But then, when your father is the most-wanted forest brigand in the country, there is nothing in your life that is usual.

That meeting was in 2001. Twenty-three years later, as she is entering politics as a debutant contesting from Krishnagiri Lok Sabha constituency, Vidhya aims to fulfil her father's vision for the people. Only this time, it is not using bullets but through the ballot box.

The 33-year-old was shot to the limelight after being announced as the Naam Tamilar Katchi's candidate. On Monday, she filed the nomination.

Though the world remembers her father for slaughtering elephants for ivory, felling sandalwood, and eliminating all and any who stood in his path before being gunned down by the Special Task Force of Tamil Nadu Police in October 2004, his image in Vidhya's mind is starkly different.

“I have never felt bad about my father’s actions or the news about him. He was basically helpless and alone. Although there are many like him, his image has been wrongly projected by the society," Vidhya told DT Next.

“It was from my father that I learned the vision that we should strive for our people," she noted.

Speaking about her journey, Vidhya said she studied law in Bengaluru but took a detour career-wise to open a nursery school.

“Basically, I wanted to do something good for the people of Krishnagiri, especially those living in hills, because there is a long bond between me and the people of Anchetti, Thalli, and Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri."

During the interaction with this newspaper, Vidhya recalled her meeting with Veerappan in 2001. "Since then, I have been greatly impressed by his struggles and dreams for the people."

Vidhya started her political journey with the PMK and later joined the BJP in 2020. She was appointed as a State-level office-bearer of its OBC wing.

But, after watching 'Koose Munisamy Veerappan', a web series released in December 2023, which, reviewers noted, portrayed the brigand as an anti-hero (a definition that offers a shade of grey instead of deep, dark, black painted by police records), Vidhya left the saffron party and joined Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi in 2024.

“Seeman Chithappa (uncle) told me that he has a lot of respect for my father. I see a lot of similarities between my father and Chithappa," she said.

Vidhya said she was contesting the election to emphasise that it is the duty of the government to provide the basic needs of the people like food, healthcare and education.

"I am contesting the election to fulfil my father’s vision to improve the living standards of the marginalised and ensure they lead an independent life."