In his 2020 novella Vaazhga Vaazhga, Sahitya Akademi-winning writer Imayam ends with a haunting image: the weary cadre, including women and children, stand for hours in the scorching sun, hungry and drained, waiting for the Great Leader. When she arrives, chaos erupts. People collapse under the crush of the crowd. In the end, all that remains is the exhausted chant “Vaazhga, vaazhga (Long live, long live)” rising from the emptiness.
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