Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
SHE addressed barely 22 meetings over the last two months besides two road shows in Chennai. However, the huge crowds at each of these meetings were enough to show that Jayalalithaa Jayaram wasn’t facing any strong anti-incumbency wave in this state that hasn’t voted back a government in three decades.
Eventually, the 68-year-old, who earlier tasted victory in the disproportionate assets case, appeared to have coasted through on the strength of her government’s achievements in governance and policy formulations, even if many of these were criticised for being populist.
WATCH VIDEO: Elections 2016: Three Reasons Behind Each State Victory
In contrast, the DMK held hundreds of meetings addressed by M K Stalin, apart from 36 by M Karunanidhi.
In her poll rallies, Jayalalithaa would mostly just read out her government’s achievements, apart from ridiculing Karunanidhi and the DMK for a brief few minutes in her exact 40-minute speeches.
Apart from her government’s achievements and sops, what helped Jayalalithaa was the multi-cornered fight, especially the presence of the Vijayakanth-led PWF-TMC alliance that appears to have split DMK votes.
WATCH VIDEO: Elections 2016: Big Winners & Losers
In the Gounder-majority Kongu belt and Madurai, where the Thevars are in a majority, the AIADMK did well.
Leaders of the socially and politically powerful OBCs hold important portfolios in the AIADMK Cabinet.
Social welfare schemes helped Jayalalithaa retain her support among women, who represent more than half of the state electorate, about 2.1 crore voters.
Besides, the Jayalalithaa government distributed four goats and a cow to each BPL family, three free sets of uniforms, shoes, bags, notebooks, geometry boxes and pencils to all children in government schools, and cycles to Class 11 students, besides the laptop scheme.
Some six lakh women got 4 grams gold each and Rs 50,000 as marriage assistance and 20 kg free rice monthly.
A 2015-16 policy note of the Special Programme Implementation Department of Tamil Nadu shows that 5.50 lakh students in the state had benefited from the government’s free laptop scheme, costing Rs 1,100 crore. Around 26 lakh school students had gained from the scheme in 2011-16.
The scheme of distributing mixies, grinders and fans reached 1.85 crore women. A special provision was made to give induction stoves instead of fans to households in hilly areas such as the Nilgiris, Kodaikanal and Dindigul, where fans are not of much use. In her manifesto, she promised free 100 units of electricity, subsidy for women to buy scooter/moped and free mobile phones
In the end, details such as this may have made a difference.
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
