Small parties have the capacity to play both ends against the middle. Puducherry could be heading that way, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Key Points
- Puducherry's political evolution diverged from Tamil Nadu due to distinct colonial legacies influencing governance, land systems, and class formation.
- AIADMK once dominated Puducherry politics, but its influence declined after merger talks and Congress centralised control from Chennai.
- Emergence of new parties like LJK and TVK is reshaping electoral dynamics, challenging traditional political formations in the Union territory.
For several decades after Puducherry was founded as a Union Territory in 1962, its politics was thought to mimic the politics of its border brother, Tamil Nadu. It did -- and it didn't.
The two regions had different colonial masters: The British in Tamil Nadu (then Madras, which meant the city and the province) and the French in Puducherry. This affected land revenue and ownership.
Madras followed the ryotwari system of land revenue, taxing individual peasants, while the French relied more on tax levied on trade, with implications for capital formation and the emergence of a ruling class.
French Legacy Shapes Governance Model
Governance systems were also different. The French set store by local bodies, the British not so much (it is quite another matter that in the 65-odd years since Puducherry became part of India, local-body elections have been held only twice and recently a former parliamentarian sought the Supreme Court's intervention for early polls).
Unlike Tamil Nadu, caste is not the major factor in Puducherry politics though it has a 6.2 per cent Christian and 6 per cent Muslim population.
Tamil Nadu has around the same numbers for the two religious communities.
However, both regions speak the same language and Puducherry was crazy about M G Ramachandran and, later, Jayalalithaa.
Before the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) came to power in Tamil Nadu in 1977, its first major electoral victory (barring the Dindigul Lok Sabha bypoll in 1973) was in Puducherry, where it came to power in the first elections to the assembly it contested in 1974 and again in 1977.
The fascination with the AIADMK began to ebb in 1979, when negotiations were reported between then prime minister Morarji Desai and then Tamil Nadu chief minister M G Ramachandran to end the UT status of Puducherry and merge it with Tamil Nadu.
The return of the Congress to power at the Centre in 1980 saw the Puducherry Congress become a spoke in the Tamil Nadu hub of the party with Chennai dictating everything, including alliance partners.
In 2011, N Rangasamy shrugged off the Congress yoke to form his own Congress (All India N R Congress, or AINRC).
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which was in straitened circumstances in Puducherry -- in the 2016 assembly elections, it contested 30 seats and lost its deposit in 29 -- identified the AINRC as a valuable potential partner and ceded chief ministership to Mr Rangasamy in return for participation in government.
So in south India in 2021, it was in Puducherry that the BJP became a partner in government, after having done so in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh earlier (it did so in Andhra Pradesh again in 2024).
The BJP won six seats in the assembly in 2021.
Rise of New Political Players
Although it can see the old order crumbling in the near collapse of the Congress and the AIADMK in Puducherry, the BJP has not really been able to cash in on it.
New parties have instead emerged from the debris.
The launch of the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK) last year by Coimbatore-based businessman Santiago Martin, India's 'lottery king', is a case in point.
According to the Election Commission of India data, his company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, bought electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore between April 2019 and January 2024.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) received Rs 509 crore from this but he also contributed to the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.
Mr Martin has struck an alliance with the BJP (he was in the party but quit in 2015) for the upcoming elections, much to the irritation of the AINRC, which has made its displeasure about the alliance known.
Mr Martin's son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna joined actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) last month, giving the TVK a unique entry point into Puducherry politics.
The party will contest all 30 seats. Aadhav has had a chequered political career, starting out as a strategist in Prashant Kishore's team, bouncing from the DMK to the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), and finally landing up as a lieutenant of Vijay's.
He grew up in extreme penury, became a sportsman, and is president of the Basketball Federation of India and the Tamil Nadu Basketball Association.
He is also general secretary of the Tamil Nadu Olympic Association. For aspirational young voters, he projects himself as a role model.
His in-laws have made their disapproval of his action public. However, this could be tactical.
Close Margins, Unpredictable Outcomes
What does all this mean? In the 2021 assembly polls, the winning margin in 12 of the 30 constituencies was less than 2,000 votes.
If new parties nibble away even 4 to 5 per cent of the vote, the outcome in Puducherry could be unpredictable.
Small parties have the capacity to play both ends against the middle. Puducherry could be heading that way.
Its break from Tamil Nadu politics will be complete if that happens.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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