Chennai: More than 50 years ago, a movie star who shot to fame playing the common man—a rickshaw-puller, fisherman, farmer, or clerk—founded a party that broke the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) monopoly and became one of the two pillars of Dravidian politics in Tamil Nadu.
Today, the party founded by matinee idol M.G. Ramachandran, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), faces a serious challenge from the rise of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)—also led by a superstar, Joseph Vijay, whose socially and politically aware films have won him a massive fan following.
MGR and Vijay may seem to be cut from the same cloth. But there’s a difference.
MGR went through the rough and tumble of political life for over 15 years before he ascended to the state’s most important administrative post. He knew the party, its cadres, its ideological roots, and they knew him.
Vijay and his TVK, on the other hand, made it to the top almost overnight.
In its maiden electoral attempt, the TVK won 108 of Tamil Nadu’s 234 assembly seats, relegating the AIADMK to third place and triggering a fresh split within the party.
Senior AIADMK leader S. Semmalai has resigned, questioning whether this is still the party built by MGR and nurtured by Jayalalithaa. And a faction led by senior leaders S.P. Velumani and C.V. Shanmugam has opposed AIADMK chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s (EPS) leadership.
EPS found himself isolated and politically cornered after 25 rebel MLAs defied the party whip and supported the TVK during the floor test on 13 May.
The AIADMK is no stranger to crises. The party has survived multiple splits since MGR’s death, and each time managed to revive itself. But this time, political analysts say the fissures seem deeper, and the party may be facing one of its most serious internal crises.
Moreover, with no second line of leadership, uncertainty looms over the party.
“All senior leaders are in different positions, and they are not in a position to reconcile and take a joint decision. With every leader blaming each other almost every day, the public image of the party is also damaged. Faction is different from fraction; while the former can be worked upon, the latter does not have a possibility for a patch-up,” said former AIADMK leader Semmalai.
“The situation is very fragile, and while there have been splits before, the situation is not comfortable anymore to be in. I don’t see any possibility for the party to work together anymore,” he added.
Rise of the AIADMK
The AIADMK did not begin as an ideological party but as a direct challenge to the DMK after MGR’s expulsion in October 1972.
At the time, MGR worked as a DMK party worker and served as its treasurer. But his growing charisma, disagreements over cinema and politics, and accusations of corruption within the party widened the rift between him and the then chief minister M. Karunanidhi.
MGR pushed for a cabinet role, and Karunanidhi denied it, citing the conflict between cinema and politics.
On the other hand, MGR accused the party of corruption, which angered many in the party. He was expelled for “anti-party activities”, ultimately leading him to launch the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, named in honour of DMK founder C.N. Annadurai. Four years later, MGR prefixed the All-India tag to the ADMK.
MGR did not walk out alone. He had the support of experienced senior leaders who had broken from the DMK, including Navalar Neduncheriyan and Panruti Ramachandran.
While the DMK drew its strength from the literary and nationalist appeal of Karunanidhi’s oratory, MGR had a wider mass appeal through his cinema, reaching various sections of society.
In 1977, just five years after founding the party, MGR led it to power, winning 130 of 234 seats and becoming chief minister.
Welfare as politics
Over the years, the AIADMK’s popularity grew because of its welfare-oriented politics.
Its sweeping majorities in 1977, 1980 and 1984 firmly established MGR as a formidable political leader in Tamil Nadu.
While the DMK’s stronghold was the Cauvery Delta and northern Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK expanded its reach to southern districts, the fishermen community, tribal communities and women.
The noon meal scheme, launched on 1 July 1982, became the defining symbol of the AIADMK’s governance. MGR increased reservation for backward classes to 50 percent in 1980, directly benefiting rural farming communities.
Later, Jayalalithaa supercharged the welfare model, expanding direct-benefit schemes including free mixers, grinders, fans, laptops for students, gold for mangalsutras, and free electricity up to a specified limit.
These measures transformed the grammar of Dravidian populism from structural reforms to immediate welfare delivery.
Even after the Union government dismissed MGR’s government in 1980, he turned the dismissal into a campaign issue and staged a comeback.
In 1984, a sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi’s assassination and MGR’s hospitalisation led the Congress-AIADMK alliance to sweep both state and parliamentary elections.
Political observers say the AIADMK was careful with alliances. The 1977 win came after the party struck an alliance with the Congress, and post-Emergency anti-DMK sentiment acted as a catalyst.
“Until 1996, an alliance with Congress was seen as a major player in state politics. It was said there were two and a half parties in Tamil Nadu: the DMK, AIADMK and Congress were the key players. The AIADMK also allied with smaller allies like left parties and small regional parties,” said noted political analyst Arun Kumar.
MGR’s death and the first split
MGR’s death on 24 December 1987 created a void and divided the party into two factions led by Jayalalithaa and his wife Janaki.
The party had always been the vehicle of one man’s charisma. Without him, there was no natural heir — only a contest over who could most convincingly claim to be his political shadow.
While Janaki served as chief minister for just 24 days, cadres showed growing support for Jayalalithaa. In the 1989 assembly elections, the two factions contested separately, paving the way for the DMK to regain power after 13 years.
The factions later reunited under Jayalalithaa, and in 1991, a sympathy wave following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination helped her sweep to power.
“After MGR’s demise, Jayalalithaa utilised her charisma and rebuilt the AIADMK from a point where it was believed there was no future for the party. The party had survived its first succession crisis,” says Arun Kumar.
Jayalalithaa: Building the Amma brand
Jayalalithaa governed Tamil Nadu in six tenures spanning more than 14 years.
The social narrative of being “Amma” cultivated near-religious devotion among followers, along with her welfare schemes.
“The politics of meeting the basic needs of people worked in the party’s favour and in 2016, the party won 136 seats, which is largely credited to welfare delivery in the state,” said political analyst Ravindran Thuraisamy.
But strong corruption allegations also marked her first term.
She was accused of owning assets disproportionate to her declared income and was arrested in December 1996. An years-long legal process followed.
“Corruption charges were a big setback to the AIADMK, and in 1996, it was believed that the party had no future. Within two years, Jayalalithaa again regained power,” says Arun Kumar.
“Similarly, after she withdrew support from the BJP and they joined hands with the DMK, people said the AIADMK had no future. Again, Jayalalithaa rebuilt her image in 2001. She was able to build the brand Amma after she changed how people saw her,” he adds.
Jayalalithaa was barred from contesting elections in 2001, but she led the AIADMK to victory anyway and then asked the Governor to swear in an ineligible chief minister, staking claim to form the government.
However, the Supreme Court ruled against the appointment. She then named O. Panneerselvam as her stand-in. OPS performed this role multiple times. When Jayalalithaa was convicted and sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 2014, OPS again took over while the state government effectively ground to a halt.
The Karnataka High Court acquitted her in 2015 in a judgment that sparked controversy. When she died in December 2016, Supreme Court proceedings against her were abated.
Another split after Jaya’s death
After Jayalalithaa’s death, the power struggle that followed transformed the party.
Sasikala, her long-time aide, was appointed general secretary. But many senior figures opposed the move, and OPS publicly turned against her at Marina Beach on 7 February 2017, claiming he had been forced to resign.
Before Sasikala could consolidate power, the Supreme Court upheld her conviction in the disproportionate assets case. She was sentenced to prison, and EPS was named chief minister.
The split between OPS and EPS spilled on to the courts, with both sides claiming the party’s name and its symbol, two leaves. They reunited in August 2017, but tensions resurfaced. In July 2022, OPS was expelled from the party.
The Election Commission and the courts became the arena for a prolonged battle over who represented the legitimate AIADMK. The legal proceedings dragged on even as both sides attempted to mobilise cadres and district secretaries to demonstrate majority support within the organisation.
AIADMK under EPS
As the principal opposition from 2021, the AIADMK under EPS became a single-leader party, but unlike MGR and Jayalalithaa, EPS lacked mass charisma.
The party allied with the BJP for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, alienating its Dravidian base, and the DMK-led front swept 38 of 39 seats.
The AIADMK broke with the BJP in 2023, only to return to the alliance by 2025. The 2026 assembly elections reduced the party to third position.
“EPS is not a mass leader. He had the support of the Kongu Vellalar community and western districts, but he could not hold the charismatic image the party always had,” said political analyst Sumanth Ramam.
“He could prove that he had the support of the party for a time, but after 2021, he did not perform well in the legislative assembly. The vacuum he left in the legislature had powerful consequences,” he added.
Shanmugam has sharply criticised EPS, holding him accountable for repeated electoral defeats and accusing him of acting like a dictator who suppressed internal democracy.
He alleged EPS refused to re-induct expelled leaders, including OPS, ignored suggestions to ally with the TVK before elections, and sidelined alliance partners.
Shanmugam accused the current leadership of failing to introspect or call a general council meeting to analyse the reasons for the losses. The rebel group, backed by S.P. Velumani and C Vijayabaskar, is demanding a general council meeting to discuss all pending issues.
“The party would be difficult to revive. MGR and Jayalalithaa were caste-neutral leaders who could get support from all castes across the state. When EPS’s community identity entered the equation, it strengthened him personally but weakened the party’s cross-caste appeal,” said political analyst Ravindran Thuraisamy.
As uncertainty looms over the party’s future, the AIADMK’s two factions seem headed towards a legal battle.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
-
-
-
-
