TN parties expand wings to attract young cadres ahead of Assembly polls

Political parties in Tamil Nadu, both established and emerging, are striving to attract and retain young cadres by launching a range of targeted wings. While parties traditionally maintained student, women, and trader wings, the list has now grown to include wings for doctors, NRIs, engineers, graduate teachers, sports enthusiasts, and even children.

The DMK has created wings for the differently-abled and educationists to broaden its outreach. AIADMK recently launched a sports wing to draw youth interested in athletics and fitness. The Tamil Nadu unit of CPI(M) has not only created an IT wing but also decided to reduce the maximum age limit for its youth wing from 40 to 39 years to better reflect its focus on younger members.

Catch them young

Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam recently formed a fisherfolk wing in the party, while actor Vijay’s TVK took it a step further by launching a children’s wing. Interestingly, this wing does not enrol children but specifically targets teenagers, nurturing them as future members once they turn 18. Meanwhile, the DMDK has ramped up recruitment in its students’ wing by felicitating students who passed Class 12 exams with distinction.

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Senior DMK leaders have been instructed to undergo training to become more active on social media platforms. The party also holds sessions with social media influencers in an effort to attract younger cadres. Exclusive sessions have been conducted to train members on how to respond to and counter social media posts from BJP and AIADMK. “Our IT wing is receiving strong backing from the party high command because it plays a key role in reaching out to and engaging young cadres. Even Stalin himself makes a conscious effort to use social media language in interviews,” said a senior DMK leader.

Enrolment of young cadres has become an increasingly tough task for AIADMK’s district secretaries. Party insiders told The Federal that the sports wing, a six-month-old entity, was exclusively launched to enrol young men and women. The initiative has managed to bring in a few hundred new members, particularly from villages in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

AIADMK’s woes

“Young men and women were pleased to be given specific roles within the party, rather than being just another face in the youth or students’ wings. In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to enroll voters between the ages of 18 and 25. Recruiting young women, in particular, has become a major challenge. During Jayalalithaa’s tenure, she proudly claimed that the Kazhagam had 1.5 crore cadres. In 2008, she launched the Ilaignar and Ilampengal Pasarai wings specifically to infuse young blood into the party. But now, we’re struggling to recruit even from within the families of our existing cadres,” said a former minister and senior AIADMK leader.

Sources said that in a recent meeting with the district secretaries, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami was taken aback to know that in the Karur district of western Tamil Nadu, the party could not produce a list of representatives aged below 45 years to serve as booth committee agents.

DMDK struggles

The scenario is no different in the DMDK. Party sources admitted that attracting young cadres has become difficult in recent years, as voters aged 18 to 25 are more drawn to actor Vijay than to Vijayakanth. “We’re struggling to expand our support base in rural areas. Compared to Vijayakanth, it’s Vijay who appeals more to the young generation. Even when parents join the party, their children are reluctant to follow,” said a party insider. However, DMDK spokesperson and former MLA B Parthasarathy told The Federal that the students’ wing and advocates’ wing continue to bring in a significant number of young members.

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“We managed to secure around 20,000 votes in several constituencies across districts like Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvallur, Kanyakumari, Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, and Tiruppur during the 2016 Assembly elections largely due to the efforts of our specialised wings. The students’ wing, cadres’ wing, weavers’ wing, and advocates’ wing played a crucial role in that success. Now, we are adopting a more focused strategy to enrol educated youth by organising targeted events for these special wings in the run-up to the elections,” said Parthasarathy.

Cong’s traditional structure

While Dravidian parties are expanding their reach through specialised wings, a national party like the Congress continues to focus on reinforcing its traditional organisational structure. Lakshmi Ramachandran, general secretary and spokesperson of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee told The Federal that though no new wings were formed in recent years, the advocates’ wing and professionals’ wing helped the party to enrol young cadres.

“We follow a traditional structure with four main wings: students, youth, women, and the parent party unit. The IT wing was introduced in 2013, followed by the art and literary wing in 2019. We haven’t created additional wings at the state level because our cadres and senior leaders are already well integrated into the existing framework,” said Ramachandran.

Senior leaders from the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP were not available for comments on the formation of new wings and enrolment of youth in the party.

Bid to engage youth

When The Federal asked political analyst CS Koteeswaran about the impact of special wings and whether increased segmentation would help, he said parties could no longer see youth as a monolithic bloc and were forced to create new, targeted wings to engage them efficiently.

He said there are only around 100 to 120 feasible district secretary posts in the parties, given the state’s 234 constituencies. Not everyone can be a district secretary. That’s where positions within various wings, whether at the state or zonal level, serve as the next best alternative, offering influence and recognition within the party structure.

“Many times, a party functionary may be well-qualified for a district secretary post but can’t be accommodated due to the limited number of positions. Creating new wings offers such leaders a sense of elevation, allowing them to serve as secretaries or general secretaries of these wings, even if they aren’t part of the main party hierarchy. These positions are not merely consolation prizes. Some wings have grown powerful enough to produce MLAs and now serve as effective launching pads for political careers,” said Koteeswaran.

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He pointed out that former chief minister and AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa once held the post of propaganda secretary of the party which contributed to her rapid ascent within the party ranks.

IT wings’ growing clout

“In recent years, former AIADMK minister C Vijayabaskar also rose through the ranks with the help of the party’s doctors’ wing. The DMK, meanwhile, created wings for transgenders and NRIs which have helped the party boost its goodwill among both cadres and voters. Now, the party has also launched a dedicated wing for differently abled individuals. The DMK, in fact, has its roots in the growth and influence of its students’ wing,” he said.

Koteeswaran also emphasised the growing significance of IT wings across all political parties today. “Formed within the last decade, the IT wing now holds more influence than many traditional party wings. A strong social media presence and efforts to boost virtual followers are considered just as important as on-the-ground cadre mobilisation,” he said.

He added that party wings are not merely tools for distributing power; they are intended to build parallel structures that enhance the party’s grassroots presence and attract professionals or social groups who might otherwise remain disengaged from mainstream politics.