BJP hopes to shake up Tamil politics this week

The party is looking at Amit Shah’s visit to Tamil Nadu and the PM’s to Sri Lanka to boost its expansions efforts in the state for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, reports Archis Mohan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on a two-pronged attack, using its chief Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to gain a political foothold in Tamil Nadu.

BJP chief Amit Shah will be in Tamil Nadu later this month, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka later this week. The move could be more than a mere coincidence, as the BJP is looking at the twin visits to boost its expansion efforts in Tamil Nadu in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. The party has traditionally been weak in the state.

Party strategists say there is an opportunity to fill the political vacuum that has arisen in the state after the death of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalalithaa and the retirement from politics of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi.

The BJP’s assessment is that Karunanidhi’s son, M K Stalin has struggled to fill the shoes of his father, while the AIADMK has been largely rudderless after Jayalalithaa’s death. “In contrast, the PM has immense credibility in the state,” a strategist said.

Shah’s visit to Tamil Nadu is part of his tour across India to galvanise cadres and strengthen the party organisation. Tamil Nadu is a state where the BJP hopes to make inroads by the 2019 Lok Sabha poll. Other states on this list are West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha and some north-eastern ones. The BJP’s in-charge for Tamil Nadu is its national general secretary Muralidhar Rao.

The PM will be in Colombo from Thursday to attend the International Day of Vesak celebrations. It is the biggest Buddhist festival. It commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha.

In Sri Lanka, the PM is scheduled to address a gathering of Tamils and hold discussions with leaders of Tamil political parties.

During the visit of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to India in the last week of April, Modi had expressed hope that Colombo would stick to the time frame it had set for reconciliation with Tamil minorities and address their concerns. Sri Lanka’s Tamil issue has always struck a chord in Tamil Nadu.

Beyond the leadership crisis in Tamil politics playing to its advantage, the BJP is also hopeful that AIADMK leaders and cadres would join the party, which it needs to grow in the state.

What could play to the BJP’s advantage is that several state politicians are not just facing corruption charges but are also “indiscreet”, a BJP source said. The BJP chief will largely spend time in Chennai and Coimbatore.

As for the antipathy in Tamil Nadu towards a “north Indian party” like BJP, party strategists are of the view that the state has changed in the last couple of decades. “With success in business and improved social indicators, the Tamil society is no longer insecure about spread of Hindi or the influence of North India. These are non-issues and Stalin is playing a politics that is well past its sell-by date,” a BJP strategist said about Stalin’s recent efforts to revive the memories of the anti-Hindi agitations of 1950s and 60s.

The BJP’s effort will be to turn the Dravidian movement’s strength as its Achilles’ heel. In contrast to the atheism that Dravidian parties profess, the BJP agenda will be to revive Tamil glory of the past, particularly to celebrate Tamil culture’s Hindu elements. “The BJP chief’s tour is about positioning the party. We currently have only one seat in the Assembly. We have little to lose and all to gain,” the BJP strategist said.