Electoral upsets with major consequences for both State and national level politics marked the Tamil Nadu and West Bengal elections in India. 

In the results which came out on Monday, a Gen Z-led Tsunami resulted in the victory of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) helmed by the matinee idol, Vijay in Tamil Nadu. The victory marked the end of continues rule of the State by the Dravidian parties, namely, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), since 1967. 

In West Bengal, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended the 15-year dominance of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and signalled the entry of Hindu nationalistic politics into a State that had been either Centre Left or Communist, since 1947.

All pollsters, except Axis India, had given the TVK only a double-digit number of seats, at best. And political pundits dismissed him as a mere “spoiler” attributing whatever he might do to his celluloid image as a dashing hero and not his political ideology or political effort.   

The media failed to correctly assess the groundswell of support among Gen Z for Vijay, for whom he was Thalapathi (Tamil for Commander). 

“Most of those who root for him are not old enough to vote,” was a common comment among the intelligentsia. But many also quoted parents as saying that they would vote for Vijay only to please their sons and daughters. 

Asked by TV channels why they wanted Vijay, youngsters said, “We want change. There should be change!” Few had any clear idea  about the kind of change they wanted or expected from Vijay. 

”We had the two Dravida parties (DMK and AIADMK) taking turns to rule Tamil Nadu since 1967. Its time, somebody totally new, got a chance,” was the general refrain.

For all the support, Vijay did not hold a single press conference to elucidate his idea of change. In the few public speeches he made, he played up the alleged harassment of women and the selling of drugs by politically connected hoodlums and the pervasive corruption associated with DMK’s cadres. The DMK, which had the........

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