No need for exit polls in this village: it’s always Amma

In Sothankupam village, they say, even a baby knows who to vote for. In every single election over the past 12 years, every person with a vo...

In Sothankupam village, they say, even a baby knows who to vote for. In every single election over the past 12 years, every person with a vote here has cast it for the AIADMK.

This is not a story about Tamil Nadu’s political quirks. It is a tale of the passion that politics evokes in this part of the country—never mind that the area has been negelcted by every political party—and a village’s efforts to save itself from being consumed by that passion.

In some ways it has already paid the price. Sothankupum was once the largest village in Pulicat Lake but it took its politics far too seriously. After every election, vicious fights would break out.

They got so bad that a group of 150 families, unable to to agree with the politics of others, left the vilage to form their own hamlet called Pasendrum. Shortly after that another group left to form another hamlet.

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One village broke into three and about 12 years back the village elders decided that the only way to stop their village from being fragmented further was to put an end to political fights.

Their unusual remedy? Everyone would vote the same way. Although Pulicat Lake, under Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha constituency, is DMK land, this village of 1,333 decided its hero was MGR. ‘‘If there are two parties, we will fight,’’ explained fisherman Satyamugam. ‘‘Instead, we vote for MGR with our hearts.’’

A large statue of MGR dominates the village, though the mantle has now passed to Jayalalithaa. DMK workers don’t even bother visiting the village. They know it is pointless. ‘‘Once we have pledged our vote to Amma, can we give it to Appa?’’ asks Selvi, the head fisherwoman.

It is not as if such staunch loyalty has been rewarded. Like its neighbours, Sothankupum cries out for drinking water. Like them it wants a bridge to connect the cluster of villages—a promise that different political parties have made but none has kept. But it isn’t complaining. One party may take it for granted, the other may ignore it completely, but at least the village is not tearing itself apart.