Women power, missing youth to be crucial in TN

CHENNAI: In the absence of a palpable political wave in favour of any alliance in the State, Nari Shakthi (Power of women) and abstention of youth could be the game changer in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls in the Dravidian hinterland.

In that, the INDIA bloc led by the ruling DMK, which is riding high on the goodwill earned through the Rs 1,000 monthly honorarium disbursal scheme called Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai, free bus travel for women and Chief Minister’s Breakfast scheme, could swing the result in favour of the alliance.

With the post-Jayalalithaa AIADMK led by its general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami unable to wield the enviable influence of the past among the women voters, who outnumber the menfolk in the State, the DMK led by CM Stalin has the political leverage working to its electoral advantage this time owing to the impact of the three pioneering schemes.

Not to mention, the influence DMK deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, along with state social welfare minister Geetha Jeevan, created among the people, mainly women when they waded in knee-deep water in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli during the recent floods.

The schemes of the CM and the act of the two women leaders of the DMK have helped the party endear itself to the womenfolk, albeit the bloopers of some of their male party colleagues that spoilt the momentum.

DMK insiders who were actively engaged in the campaign management said that they received highly favourable feedback from the womenfolk owing to the schemes and it could be the contributor to their victory margin going up in an election which is arithmetically and politically balanced in INDIA blocs favour already.

Another shot in the arm for the INDIA combine in the largely tri-cornered contest is the abstention of youth on poll day. In playing truant on poll day, the young keyboard warriors, mainly Instagram-obsessed first-time voters might have let down the BJP, which banked heavily on them.

The voters between 18 and 25 years, who were crucial in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014 and whom the BJP believed would jack up their poll percentage in Tamil Nadu, have been visibly missing in the polling booth queues, effectively, reducing it to a near bi-polar contest between DMK and AIADMK, barring half a dozen start constituencies in the State.

Development economist and social scientist Venkatesh Atreya says, “It is too early to conclude the outcome based on the poll percentage. But it is fair to read from the poll percentage points that it was a bi-polar contest between the DMK and the AIADMK in the state like ever. The popularity of Modi or Annamalai was a myth created by the media, which the media largely subscribed to. So, the chances of the BJP are very remote. I cannot single out which factor or scheme and its influence among the women could contribute to the DMK-led INDIA bloc’s performance at this point. But, it seems largely in favour of the INDIA bloc.”