On the very last day of the last year, Superstar Actor Rajinikanth launched his own political party, for the 2020 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu (TN). His party’s candidates will fight on all 234 seats in the state’s Assembly, and his party might also contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After the launch, he asked all his fans to register on the ‘Rajini Mandram’ website (rajinimandram.org) and android app. At the event, ‘Thalaiva’ said, “I’m not in politics for name, fame or money.”
He also said, “The last one year has brought shame to TN. Every other state is laughing at the state of our politics. This must change.” He also appealed to his followers, to be his watchdog instead of being cadre, as is the case with other parties. His statements have increased political temperature not just in TN, but across India. Politicians and people are busy speculating about his party’s political future.
Many are interested in knowing about whether his party is open to an alliance with any of the two major national parties, i.e. Congress and BJP. Here it’s worth mentioning that TN BJP President Dr Tamilisai Soundarajan welcomed Rajinikanth’s decision saying “Gandhiji has said that we cannot separate religion and politics. Spiritual politics is also BJP’s politics. Tamil Nadu is a land where political leaders hide their religious identity to appear atheist.”
The symbol of his party has a hand emerging from a lotus encircled by a snake and set against a midnight blue-black background. The hand’s middle and ring fingers are folded inwards, and the thumb covers their nail-tips. But the index and little fingers stand straight. This hand posture, known as ‘Apana Mudra’, has been associated with Sri Guru Babaji (popularly known as Mahavatar Babaji) the spiritual guru for Rajinikanth, who has a strong religious bent of mind.
Lotus symbolizes India’s national flower, and purity. It is also used by BJP as its logo. Rajinikanth is worshipped like God in the south Indian states, and BJP is weak in the region. His party is also quite new, thus both of them need each other. Also, BJP is eager to win the upcoming Karnataka elections, to make a grand entry in the southern states, like it did in Assam and the northeast. Therefore, we could see Rajinikanth campaigning for BJP in the state.
