18 April,2024 07:20 AM IST | Tamil Nadu | Krishna Kumar Padmanabhan
Naam Tamilar Katchi party leader Senthamizhan Seeman. Pic/X
Often ignored by mainstream media and derided on social media, a Tamil nationalist party established in 2010 following the annihilation of the LTTE in Sri Lanka, to fight for the Tamil race, has been growing from strength to strength in the electoral field, as well as in popularity among the Tamil youth and women. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK - We are the Tamil People) was established by firebrand moviemaker Seeman.
In its first wide electoral debut in the 2016 assembly election, the party won a meagre 1 per cent vote share. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, it made people sit up and take notice, winning 4 per cent votes (a bigger share than the national BJP). In the 2021 assembly elections, it blew everyone's expectations out of the water, winning 7 per cent votes, and finishing third in many constituencies.
Seeman, prone to outlandish claims and often shooting his mouth off, has nonetheless become popular among the youth for his pro-Tamil stand. (He has in the past blamed the minorities for voting DMK, said while everyone is welcome in TN, only a Tamil is fit to rule, and most amusingly, promised that if his party comes to power, the entire CSK squad will be filled with only Tamil players.)
But people do take him seriously, for whatever reason. Electorally, he has done stellar work, always fielding 50 per cent women in any election that the party has contested, even as the national parties wring their hands over the 33 per cent reservation legislation. In this election, one of the 20 women who will contest for NTK is forest brigand Veerappan's lawyer daughter Vidhya Rani. He also fields highly qualified professionals. This ensures that while Seeman remains the main draw, his army of highly educated candidates take up micro issues affecting the local population.
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Nobody outside the mainstream press will be surprised if NTK wins more than 10 per cent vote shares, and consequently spoiling the party for some of the major players. Either way, the party will be a force to reckon with in the years to come, starting with the 2026 Assembly elections.
20
No of women to contest for NTK in this election
