Chennai:Tamil social media, particularly YouTube channels, has been abuzz with actor Vijay’s impending political entry through his proposed State conference at Vikravandi on September 23 after the government initially declined to allow a special morning show of his new film ‘Greatest Of All Time’ (popularly abbreviated as GOAT) on its opening day on Thursday, September 5, in movie theatres across the country.
What was seen as Vijay’s double whammy - one, his party organizers’ struggle with finalizing the venue for the opening conference and the police not readily giving permission for it at Vikravandi and two, the blunt denial for the additional show of his film – led to several conversations touching on his political aspirations and the apprehensions of established political parties over it in social media channels.
When news of the organizers of the maiden conference of Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam running from city to city to identify a venue – they were in Trichy, Thanjavur and Salem scouting for a ground - came out, people started suspecting the hidden hand of the powerful forces in it. Then when the news about the 21 questions raised by Villupuram district police on the conduct of the conference came out, social media started suggesting that powerful people wanted to scuttle the conference.
The absence of any official clarification that such questions were routine ones, asked before granting permission to any mega event of the scale Vijay’s party was expecting it to be, led to the creation of a popular perception that there was a bid to stop the event through the apprehensions spread through social media.
Some one unearthed an old news of Vijay calling on Rahul Gandhi some years ago and created a buzz of the Congress leader being invited to the September 23 conference without any confirmation from Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam honchos, creating more apprehensions.
The grandiose planning for the conference, which, party sources said, would be attended by lakhs of fans and supporters from all over the State, made many political activists and those active in social media to wonder as to who were behind such an expensive project that would cost several crores of rupees.
A question was also raised as to what was the encouragement and motivation for Vijay to give up a successful film career - he is among the top paid actors in Tamil cinema - and a large fan base to take the plunge into politics, making people imagine a powerful lobby behind the scheme.
With one suspicion leading to another, several political leaders feared that the Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam could change the present political status quo drastically. So social media activists went to town aggravating the fears of those on the field, whose future could be at stake if Vijay’s political entry turns out to be a success.
It was in such a backdrop that the impediments to the conduct of the party conference and the refusal of permission for special shows for the new film were perceived as deliberate attempts to scuttle the political entry of Vijay.
Though the government did clear the request from the producers of GOAT and allowed theatres to hold a special show in the morning all over the State and the Villupuram district police had not declined permission for the party conference, social media had managed to create an impression that established parties are apprehensive of the new party, fearing that it could wean away their own young voters.
