Asking allies to contest on principal party’s symbol is wrong: P. Shanmugam

P. Shanmugam criticizes alliance partners contesting on the principal party's symbol, emphasizing the importance of party identity in elections.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary P. Shanmugam on Wednesday made it clear “it is wrong” to ask alliance partners to contest on the symbol of the party leading the front. “Symbol is the identity of a party.” In a freewheeling conversation with journalists of The Hindu at the newspaper’s head office in Chennai, Mr. Shanmugan shared his views on actor Vijay’s political entry, seat sharing arrangements in the DMK-led alliance and more.

Edited excerpts:

The upcoming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu gain significance because, apart from the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance, actor Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has entered the fray. He is gaining overwhelming support on the ground. In such a situation, what is your main plank when you go to face the electorate?

I don’t accept even an iota of what you are saying about Vijay having overwhelming support on the ground. I don’t assess the crowd as one that wants a political change or that a new leader should come to power. The crowd is coming because the actor they saw on screen is coming to the street for the first time. I don’t accept that the crowd will convert into votes. Even my assessment could be wrong. We can come to a conclusion about that after May 4 [date of declaration of results]. While he will get a certain percentage of votes, there is no chance of him winning even a single seat, including the seats where Mr. Vijay contests.

There is always a section of people in Tamil Nadu who do not like both the DMK and the AIADMK. Mr. Seeman got their votes in the last election. Mr. Vijay might get them this time. Other than that, there are no possibilities of his political entry having a significant impact on the election results.

As far as we are concerned, this upcoming 2026 Assembly election is a fight between secular forces and communal forces. The reason why the Communist Party of India (Marxist) decided to stay firmly with the DMK-led alliance, even though we are not satisfied with the number of seats allocated to us, is the sole intention that the BJP should not win even a single seat. We are facing this election on the basis that allowing the BJP to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu will cause a huge, long-lasting impact.