Reels don't run a state: the TVK government must answer for its governance record

The smartphone has become the Tamil Nadu government's favourite policy instrument. A clip goes viral, the comments fill with fire emojis, and for a news cycle the administration basks in the glow of digital applause. But reels do not run a state. Behind the filters lies a governance record that deserves far harder scrutiny than a 30-second vertical video can provide.

Take jobs. The state's much-touted employment numbers rest heavily on informal and gig work, while educated youth continue to queue for government posts that never materialise. The TVK government inherited this crisis; it has not solved it. Announcements of skilling missions and job fairs make for good content, but placement data — where it exists at all — tells a thinner story.

Then there is the fiscal picture. Tamil Nadu's debt has climbed steadily, and committed expenditure on salaries, pensions and interest now consumes the lion's share of revenue. Welfare announcements play well on camera, but every new scheme launched for the timeline tightens the fiscal vice. The government rarely subjects its numbers to independent audit in public view.

Service delivery tells a similar tale. In Chennai's suburbs and the state's smaller towns, residents still battle waterlogging every monsoon, patchy garbage collection and overcrowded public hospitals. These are unglamorous problems that do not trend. Fixing a stormwater drain will never get the views that a minister's dance challenge does — but it is the actual job.

None of this is to say communication does not matter. Every modern government must speak the language of the platforms where citizens live. The problem is substitution: when optics replace outcomes as the measure of success, accountability dies in the comments section.

The TVK came to power promising a break from the Dravidian majors' style of governance. That promise is now being tested not on Instagram but in budget documents, employment exchanges and municipal wards. Voters who thrilled to the campaign's energy deserve a government that governs as energetically as it posts.

The measure of this administration will not be its follower count. It will be whether a young graduate in Madurai finds dignified work, whether a farmer in Thanjavur gets water on time, and whether the state's finances can sustain the promises made on screen. On those counts, the government must answer — in the assembly, in white papers, and in results. Not in reels.