Indian Elections: Tamil Nadu Politics Part-I
By kamla bhatt • Mar 22nd, 2009Category: Books and Authors, Entertainment, Featured, India, People, San Francisco/Silicon Valley
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Vaasanthi is a writer and former editor of India Today, Tamil edition. She is the author of a fascinating book on Tamil Nadu politics titled, Cut-outs, Caste and Cine Stars. Tamil Nadu was the first Indian state and perhaps the first in the world to consciously use films as a political vehicle and medium to spread their message. Annadurai, Karunanidhi and MGR were all deeply involved with the Tamil film industry for many years prior to being elected to the goverment.
In this book Vasanthi delves into the fascinating world of Tamil politics that has been dominated by two parties for nearly 40 years. In the book she examines the history and the contradictions in Tamil politics and how the DMK came to power and continued to forge a new political identity in the southern state.
In Part-I of our conversation Vaasanthi talk about the 2006 State elections in Tamil Nadu. She points out that former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s party did well in the elections even though her party did not form the government. Don’t write off Jayalalithaa yet she says. She also discusses the current CM Karunanidhi’s political acumen and the future of his party.
Vaasanthi’s first book was called Sirgugal (Wings).
This interview was originally published in May 2006.
Tune in to listen to Part-2 of Tamil Nadu Politics.
Kamla Bhatt is the host and producer of an Internet Radio show where listeners can find stories about the new and emerging India and the global Indian community. As a pioneer of 'internet radio' format in India Kamla started her first show News about India, followed by TalkNewsIndia in 2005. In 2006 she premiered her new show: The Kamla Bhatt Show: Life, People and Ideas. 
[...] is this more evident than the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu was the first state to use films as a political medium right after India became independent. From the 1940s through 1960s many of the Tamil films had a [...]