Rajinikanth: who took 25 years to get into politics

Actor Rajinikanth has announced to start his political party in January 2021. His party will contest for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Rajinikanth's supporters have been waiting for this announcement since the nineties.

The people of Tamil Nadu first came to know about Rajinikanth's interest in politics in 1996. Jayalalitha was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at that time. The marriage ceremony of his adopted son VN Sudhakaran had made headlines due to unaccounted spending across the country.

Rajinikanth then said openly that there is a lot of corruption in the government and such a government should not be in power.

In the year 1995, Rajinikanth first expressed his opinion on a political issue. Rajinikanth talked about the 'bomb culture' in Tamil Nadu at a function in the presence of MGR Kadgam Party leader RM Veerappan. He said that the state government should take responsibility for the 'bomb culture' spread in Tamil Nadu.

In 1996, Moopanar left the Congress and formed a party called Tamil Manila Congress. At that time, there was a Congress government at the Center, which was in the hands of PV Narasimha Rao. The Congress party wanted to tie up with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. In protest, Moopanar formed his Tamil Manila Congress Party, which joined hands with the DMK.

Election support

Rajinikanth openly supported this alliance. This was the first time Rajinikanth announced his support for a party.

There was a lot of dissatisfaction in the minds of the people at that time about the AIADMK government. This gave the DMK a resounding victory in the state elections and came to power. It is said that Rajinikanth's support played an important role in this victory. His Fans worked in support of the candidates of the DMK alliance and Moopanar Party during the elections.

In 1998, Rajinikanth supported the DMK alliance during the parliamentary elections. But they did not get the same support as before. The AIADMK won by an overwhelming majority. After this, Rajinikanth gradually reduced his criticism of the ruling AIADMK party.

Then when the Cauvery water dispute was at its peak in 2002, some political parties said that Rajinikanth comes from Karnataka, so he does not express his opinion on the matter. Following this allegation, Rajinikanth registered his presence in a hunger strike organized by the Tamil Nadu Film Industry and announced that his support is for the people of Tamil Nadu. He also announced a donation of one crore rupees on his behalf on this issue.

When the film Baba was made in the year 2004, it featured Rajinikanth's entry into religious leadership and politics. But the PMK party, led by Dr. Ramdoss, interrupted the screening of this film.

In many places, there were clashes between party supporters and Rajinikanth's fans. Rajinikanth then held a meeting with his Fans at the Raghavendra Marriage Hall in Chennai and asked them to vote against the PMK. But this did not have any effect and the PMK candidate won the election.

Distance from political opinion

This was the time when Rajinikanth started interfering in politics and refraining from expressing political opinion. However, in every press meet of 2004, 2006, and 2008, he was asked about the political situation. But he never responded directly and said - "Let the time come, only time will give us the answer." This raised hopes in the people and the next six years passed like this.

Then in 2014, the National Democratic Alliance put forward the name of Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate in the parliamentary elections. Modi met at Rajinikanth's residence in Chennai.

After the meeting, Rajinikanth said, "Modi is a great leader and a good administrator. I wish him all the best in the election." Although Rajinikanth did not name the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In 2014, when the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was sent to jail for 14 days in connection with a disproportionate assets case, Rajinikanth said just one word and the word was "Happy".

Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha passed away

On December 5, 2017, Jayalalithaa died due to illness. Karunanidhi started to get away from active politics due to bad health and he also died on August 7, 2018.

Rajinikanth had met Karunanidhi on 31 December 2017 and told the press that he had discussed with Karunanidhi about joining politics. He also told that Karunanidhi has given him his best wishes. Then it was indicated that Rajinikanth is coming into active politics, but then the thing has happened.

In 2019, when Rajinikanth was asked about his political support, he said that he is not supporting anyone and his fan club will not contest this election. He also said that he will contest all the seats in the upcoming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu in the year 2021. But after that, no activity of the party was seen around him and political parties also criticized him.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palanisamy, state ministers, BJP leaders, and DMK leaders also often kept saying, "Let them form a party first, then we will talk about it. Everyone has the right to form a party."

Some ministers of Tamil Nadu even used to say that it is the same as if the child is named before it is born.

Rajinikanth's journey of interest in politics started in 1991, he reached interest in electoral politics in the year 1996. But it took time till the year 2020 to reach a mature and official announcement.