The Wild Trump Card

It’s a pretty good question, and most of us are Trumped — er… stumped at finding an answer to it. Our bedtime rituals involve searching for memes on the US Presidential elections, especially on the Republican debates, blowing Donald Trump’s hair with a trumpet on www.trumpdonald.org, sharing or liking news about it on social media.. we do everything we can to spread the word about another country’s elections — but forget to look at our own!

The 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections are mere months away and the TN Elections CEO is on a roll on Twitter, posting updates and posters everyday… but that’s it. Publicity for our state’s elections is abysmally low. If you go by social media feeds, the US’ elections — and Kanye West — have caught the attention of young people. To find out why the biggest reality show in the US has us in a state of rapture, DC talks to Chennaiites who have been following both sides of debate.

Vyjayanthi Krishnaswamy, a retired professor from a well-known college in the city blames lack of awareness on the part of young people as one of the reasons. “There’s hardly any discussion on the TN elections by the youth, something that stems from the academic levels. When it comes to social media, a lot of them are listening, liking, and sharing news about the US Presidential elections — but it stops after that activity. There’s hardly any follow up,” says Vyjayanthi, adding that for most youngsters, paying attention to Trump’s antics or Democratic debate is the ‘cool’ thing to do.

Of course, the state’s election commission has done much to rectify the situation. The new, innovative election posters have gone viral — catching on popular memes like ‘Be like Bill’ and others to encourage voters. A lot of celebrities from the Kolly industry have also been roped in the campaigns. All these go a long way in attracting the attention of the youth, agrees Adith Narayan, a final year law student in the city. “In my opinion, the US elections are much more lucrative — there are a lot of good debates that reach a lot of people. But for TN elections, there isn’t much to talk about as there was never a trend for good, constructive debate,” he says. Discussion is the only way the people can understand and become aware of the candidates.

Interestingly, for Aditya Shivkumar, an advocate in the city, the political system in Chennai was never about knowing the candidates — “Rather than being a candidate-oriented election, Tamil Nadu is determined by the political identity — the party is bigger than the individual. That said, the people on the ground, aam aadmi, cannot be bothered by scenario. For them it’s ‘whoever wins, wins’.” Aditya goes on to add that the lack of discussion about the elections online is because of the process. “Candidates like Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, and even Indian politicians like Narendra Modi and Shashi Tharoor, have blended themselves into social media, but that’s not the case in TN. For the latter, it’s more of a contrived attempt to be a part of social media. Once the elections are over, they will scale down,” he says.

K. Vinu, a filmmaker who’s been closely following the U.S Presidential race, says that while the hype over Trump’s campaigning has definitely captured the fancy of Indian youngsters, this applies to only a select demographic and can’t be generalised as a trend. “No doubt, his Republican debates have been most amusing and makes for very compelling viewing — but we watch it almost as a means of entertainment. We discuss and deliberate online, yes — but we also know our views can’t influence anything.”

He adds on a concluding note, “The rest of us, are indeed, tuned in anticipating the upcoming TN elections, wherein our votes and opinions actually have an impact! As responsible young adults, we definitely feel encouraged to vote and make a difference.”