For the 45-year-old Lakshmi (name changed) from Karamadai, it was a dream come true. She was transcended to a new world when her political icon and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa came on the stage in Coimbatore to address a party rally recently. However, what was disturbing for her were the camerapersons who were blocking her view of “Amma”, who was on stage for about an hour.

She relaxed only after she was able to get a peek of her icon with the help of a few policemen. The experience moved her to tears.

Such psycho frenzy is not new to Tamil Nadu politics nor is it restricted to one particular leader. This is a common sight in Tamil Nadu from the regime of former Chief Ministers C.N. Annadurai, K. Kamaraj, M.G. Ramachandran and even Jaya’s counterpart M. Karunanidhi himself.

Instances of nearly 30 people allegedly committing suicide after MGR’s demise; and a few following the same when Karunanidhi was arrested by the Jayalalithaa Government also occurred in the state.

The numbers kept increasing and if reports are to be believed more than 100 died of cardiac arrest after Jaya was arrested in the infamous Disproportionate Assets (DA) case in 2014 and what followed was a flurry of head tonsuring and various other religious rituals imploring the release of Jayalalithaa.

Though the opposition alleged that it was all a set up and money was distributed to conduct rituals and prayers, what cannot be denied is the love people have for senior leaders like Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa.

Senior Journalist and Advocate C. Gnanabarathi cites the humble lifestyles of leaders of the past that easily attracted the love and affection of the public, for whom they sacrificed many things. “At first they were attracted to the sacrifices freedom fighters and it slowly influenced politics too,” he adds.

Adding that lack of education had also given way to such psycho frenzy, he however believes that it would gradually be eliminated with people’s understanding of politics set to change.

“Lack of awareness is the culprit here. But as time moves on and technology provides alternatives to celebrities and politicians, fan following will definitely decline at least in the case of politicians,” he opines.

Meanwhile, interestingly, while still many people allow themselves to be influenced by the psycho frenzy, social media users are mercilessly pulling the legs of all political heads by using funny memes on them. With the elections closing in and campaigns increasing, election memes are certainly a hit among the youth and general social media users.