Now or never: Posters surface in Tamil Nadu's Vellore urging actor Rajinikanth to take political plunge

Chennai: With hardly eight months to go for the highly anticipated assembly election in Tamil Nadu, posters have surfaced in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu urging actor Rajinikanth to take the political plunge. “Change in Political culture and government; Party and government are separate entities - if not now, never!” the posters carried some of Rajini’s own slogans. The poster mentions the name of a fan, who is said to have been responsible for putting it up.

On March 12, addressing a press meet in Chennai, Rajinikanth had only outlined his vision for ‘cleaning up politics’ and refused to commit on his own political foray. “I have never even thought of becoming the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu or sitting in the Assembly and speaking. It is not even in my blood. I want a new wave, new power and new blood to go and seize power in the assembly and Rajini will be a bridge for this," he had said.

Rajinikanth had said that his prospective party would have only limited booth-level committee roles, so as to prevent them from missing power following the victory, as was the case with mainstream parties. He had stated his vision of a party where 60-65 per cent persons are aged below 50. “Youth with adequate qualification and a decent social standing. The remaining 30-40 per cent would consist of retired Judges, IAS, IPS and politicians. This would also include women,” he had said.

However, after the pan-India Lockdown was imposed in March, there were no public events, announcements or political statements from the actor. The actor has been non-committal about his political foray and this has further fueled talks of his party being launched in November.

The speculation has been doing the rounds and forced Rajini’s publicist to issue a statement. The statement requested the media to refrain from visiting the upscale Poes garden locality (where the actor resides) and avoid crowding there in anticipation of a possible media interaction by the actor.

Functionaries who are part of the actor’s unified fan club--Rajini Makkal Mandram also said that the actor has not held virtual meetings or any discussions with them since March. The actor had earlier said that his own outfit’s district functionaries were unhappy with the proposal of the actor not being the chief ministerial candidate of the prospective party.

“We need to tell people, this is not for Rajini, this is for the people of Tamil Nadu. I’m not here to get 15-20percent of the votes, this is my only chance. I am 71 years old and by the next polls in 2026 I will be 76. Once the message reaches more people and the common people want a change, let me see that happen and I will come to make my entry,” he had said cryptically in March.