For decades Vijay has been an honorary son or brother to his fans. On the TVK’s campaign trail, this imagined kinship produced a new title. Urging children to throw tantrums unless their parents vote for TVK, Vijay added: “Do it for Vijay mama” (uncle).

This happened at the Nandanam YMCA grounds in Chennai during his final campaign speech on April 21. Vijay recalled how children cry when parents refuse to buy them the chocolates or clothes they want. “Do the same so Vijay mama can win,” he cajoled. 

Just days before, Instagram reels had begun appearing of children and young adults wheedling, hitting, and even threatening to poison their parents if they fail to vote for Vijay.  

For ‘Vijay mama’

“I will fling cow dung on you if you don’t vote for the whistle symbol [TVK],” says a small boy in one reel. 

The mother (presumably) can be heard encouraging the child as he continues to browbeat his father. “Who will you vote for?” the child asks again. When the father replies with “DMK”, the mother chimes in, “Tell him he better vote for TVK.”

In another, a young woman, dressed like Vijay in a white shirt and khaki pants, laughs: “Sothula veshamdhaan. Kandipa sothula vesham” (I will definitely poison your rice). The video shows her insisting her father agrees to vote for Vijay. There are several similar videos of young women threatening to mix poison in rice. 

A third shows a man pretending to argue with a small child about whom he should support. The child is young enough to still be lisping. Pulling the man’s hair and slapping him repeatedly, this child too says vote for TVK.

In one more, a little boy repeatedly shouts “shut up” at grandparents who say they plan to vote for the AIADMK. The child threatens suicide if they don’t agree to vote for Vijay.

There are many more like these. Such as this one, in which a boy threatens to break an adult’s phone and spectacles. 

Involving children in election campaigning isn’t new. The TVK isn’t the only one to do so even in these polls. 

Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has been criticised for having a child speak from his campaign vehicle, among surging crowds. The child, a black-and-red chequered scarf in the DMK’s party colours wrapped around his neck, asks constituents to vote for “Udhyanidhi mama”.  

In one reel, a little boy calling himself Minister KN Nehru’s grandson asks a fisherman to vote for the DMK.

But what is distinct about the TVK reels is the sheer scale and the hint of violence.

‘Cute videos’

Predictably, TVK and its supporters found the participation of children endearing. Calling the reels “cute”, Vijay directed from a stage in Salem: “Continue this.”

He even attributed the historic 85% voter turnout partially to the children: “My special greetings and gratitude to my little friends who showed their families the way.”

But it is unknowable how many of these reels are candid or staged. Either way, it compromises minors’ safety and leaves them vulnerable to online predation while encouraging questionable behaviour. At a time when conversations about protecting children in digital spaces are finally gaining momentum, such content smacks of cognitive dissonance.  

Further, raising politcised children isn’t the same as making them tools of electioneering. Informed consent and oversight can easily be lost in campaign pageantry.

On April 25, reports emerged that the father of a five-year-old had filed a police complaint against Vijay. The complainant reportedly alleged that Vijay’s remarks caused his family significant mental distress.

Terming the videos coercive, Tamil Nadu Child Rights Watch (TNCRW) has raised a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI): “There are indications that such content is being deliberately produced and amplified to normalise this practice. A specific video suggests endorsement of such messaging.”

The complaint mentions field observations of behavioural distress among children, including refusal to eat and “heightened emotional responses within households”. 

TNCRW also points to potential violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act and ECI guidelines.  

Perilous politics 

Presently in Tamil Nadu, it’s anyone’s guess what it will take for excessive fandom to stop being perceived as “cute” instead of as perilous politics. The long-reaching psychological impacts on minors also regrettably remain to be seen.

Dramatic gestures of devotion to leaders and stars aren’t new in Tamil Nadu. In 1987, when former Chief Minister MGR passed away, there were multiple reports of cadre suicides. After former CMs M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa’s deaths, both the DMK and AIADMK reportedly claimed similar suicides among their grief-stricken cadre.

On the ideological front, self-immolation has been a form of protest for decades in the state — whether opposing Hindi imposition or extending solidarity to Tamils in Sri Lanka. These deaths are not obscure historic facts for Tamils. It has been sustained in collective memory through rhetoric, cinema, and popular imagination.

This is the larger context within which political content involving children are being produced. 

For instance, suicides for a cause may be remembered as martyrdom by many, but that is a complex conversation. In the mix of unrestrained devotion and the quest for virality, it is impossible to communicate nuance to children. Without that nuance, they are left exposed to far more dangerous fan overtures than social media posts. 

Regardless of party loyalties, adults responsible for minors need to consider this: a personality cult is still a cult. Staged or otherwise, normalising a lack of accountability and unsociable behaviour as ‘just affection’ can reinforce these attitudes in children.

Being answerable to no one may look good on cine heroes. But in sober reality, if anything goes, if the lines between campaigning and strong-arming voters can be blurred with a cinematic disregard for consequence, what kind of precedent can it set in future elections?

This article was republished from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read about our partnership here and become a subscriber here.