Kamal Ghorui
CHENNAI: As Tamil Nadu’s main contenders — the DMK, ADMK and actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam — compete to outbid one another with poll promises, from refrigerators to Rs 8,000 appliance coupons for women and six free LPG cylinders a year, one player in the field has chosen a different script.Seeman, chief coordinator of Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), dismisses freebies as “an insult” to people’s dignity, casting himself as the moral dissenter in an election shaped by welfare one-upmanship.It is a familiar role for the 59-year-old. An outsider with no political friends in Dravidian land, Seeman contests independently, insisting that alliances would dilute both his politics and his purpose. His core proposition is blunt, but central to his appeal: “Everyone has the right to live in Tamil Nadu. However, the right to rule belongs exclusively to us, the Tamils.”That message has helped Seeman carve out a distinct, if still electorally unfulfilled, place in Tamil Nadu politics. Since making his electoral debut in the 2016 assembly election, he has not won a seat in either the assembly or Parliament. Yet, NTK’s vote base has grown steadily. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the party contested all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on its own and secured about 8% of the vote — up from 3.8% in 2019. Last year, the Election Commission granted NTK “recognised party” status.Seeman has continued to reject alliances on principle. Campaigning in Coimbatore, he said that if parties with 1, 2 or 3% vote share could bargain for 20 or 30 seats — or even cash — then his own leverage would have been far greater had he been willing to negotiate. But, he says, he is not in politics for money. “I stand for my people,” he says. This time too, NTK has fielded candidates in all 234 assembly constituencies.Born in 1966 in Aranaiyur, Sivaganga district, Seeman first made his name in Tamil cinema as a director and later as an actor before moving into politics full-time. He directed films, including ‘Panchalankurichi’ in 1996, starring Tamil actor Prabhu. Over time, however, cinema gave way to activism as he became increasingly vocal on issues of Tamil identity, language, farmers’ rights, environmental protection and the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.His support for the Sri Lankan Tamils would come to define both his politics and his public persona. In 2008, as the Sri Lankan civil war neared its end, Seeman met LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, a figure he continues to openly venerate. The following years cemented his image as a fiery Tamil nationalist. He spoke out strongly against the killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka and was detained under the National Security Act in 2009 and 2010 over speeches in support of Prabhakaran. When he founded NTK on May 18, 2010 — the first death anniversary of the LTTE chief — the symbolism was unmistakable.Seeman has positioned NTK as a Tamil nationalist alternative to the two dominant Dravidian parties, the DMK and ADMK. But his journey has hardly been linear. Once a staunch supporter of Dravidian icon Periyar E V Ramasamy, he now rejects the very description of Tamil Nadu as “Periyar land”. A critic of the DMK and Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue, he backed Jayalalithaa’s ADMK in the 2011 and 2014 elections before entering the fray as an Independent in 2016.The first outing was disappointing. NTK fielded candidates in all 234 assembly constituencies and lost deposits in nearly every seat. Seeman himself finished fifth in Cuddalore. But the setbacks did not stop the party’s slow climb. Its vote share rose to 6.6% in the 2021 assembly election, up from 1.1% in 2016. Seeman has continued to present that incremental growth as proof that his politics is taking root even without the backing of larger formations.Part of that appeal lies in the man’s style as much as his message. Seeman is a mesmerising Tamil orator, one whose speeches often draw crowds willing to stand through rain and long hours just to hear him. At a recent meeting in Ariyalur, hundreds did exactly that. “A leader must speak with purpose, not merely from paper. He should speak from his heart,” the NTK chief says, in a dig at his rivals who rely on text and teleprompters.In his speeches, Seeman attacks corruption, vote-buying, and what he calls “dependency-creating freebies”. He promises quality education, basic infrastructure, govt jobs, state-supported dairy farms and prohibition. He has also made women’s representation a key part of NTK’s pitch, giving women half the seats in the party and promising equal representation in govt, which he describes as their birthright.To supporters, this is what explains his hold over a growing slice of younger voters. “People become his fans for his speeches. He built the party by articulating his principles and ideologies,” says Idumbavanam Karthik, NTK youth wing coordinator.However, Seeman’s politics is also marked by contradiction and controversy. He has made inflammatory remarks against Christians and Muslims. At his meetings, he declares that Tamils are followers of ‘Saivam’ and ‘Vaishnavam’, not ‘Hindus’. Yet, at an RSS event, he said he would use Brahmins to break the Dravidian fort. In line with that overture, he has fielded six Brahmin candidates this time.That may be the paradox at the heart of Seeman’s politics. But in a state where politics has long been dominated by two large Dravidian heavyweights, Seeman has made sure he cannot simply be brushed aside as a fringe player.
