Is Rajinikanth BJP’s ‘Plan B’? Here’s What the Superstar Must Do

Voting is not shooting; Rajinikanth’s political stunts will need a smarter script and off-screen allies to work.

Tamil Nadu is prone to cyclones these days and that could well be a metaphor for politics in the southern state that has seen several storms of various shapes and sizes since the mammoth flooding that saw the capital city of Chennai floating in 2015, months before the demise of feisty Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Her passing in 2016 created a political vacuum that has dramatically altered political equations in the state.

The long-awaited political launch of movie superstar Rajinikanth this week after much dilly-dallying – on when, how and indeed whether he will make a promised entry into politics – is only the latest of the storms to blow over the state.

But this much can be said: Rajinikanth’s impact on Tamil Nadu’s politics may be significant, but more as a nuisance to established political groupings than as a new-age replacement that would capture Fort St George, the magnificent colonial-era seat of power close to the expansive Marina Beach.