‘Dravida BJP’ Vs ‘Annamalai BJP’: The Infighting That Is Making It Difficult For The Party In Tamil Nadu

In the past few days, the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has seen some internal friction.

It started after senior leader Tamilisai Soundararajan said that leaders of other parties should be addressed with respect, when asked about state president K Annamalai’s strong criticism of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary, Edappadi Palaniswami.

Annamalai had called Palaniswami ‘illiterate’ and alleged that he had risen to the position of chief minister by being the ‘highest bidder'.

Unhappy with Soundararajan's statement, a number of BJP supporters and party functionaries took to social media to criticise her. They considered it to be inappropriate at a time when Annamalai had gone on the offensive.

While some argued that such comments suggest disunity, others felt she should raise her concerns within party forums, and not publicly.

They added that these kinds of remarks are quickly pounced upon by other parties and the Tamil vernacular media, which often favours the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), who then give their spin to it.

Amidst all this, a BJP functionary, Dhinesh Rodi, published a letter, (since deleted) in which he wrote that the BJP is a democratic party and Soundararajan is free to express her opinions.

Further, he stated that it was wrong for people to be attacking her, (including some who called themselves as ‘war-room’) and that even during her tenure as state president, other senior leaders used to speak their mind. 

He added that Annamalai would manage these things and it was not for the supporters and functionaries to worry about.

Later, that night, BJP state secretary, S G Suryah wrote a post, to address the issue but did not name anyone in it. 

He began by highlighting the independence and accomplishments of Right-Wing supporters, contrasting them with their Leftist counterparts:

“Indian Right Wing supporters are independent people with great accomplishments. All of them are self-made unlike Leftists & they don’t depend on anyone for anything. Even PM Modi can’t escape their wrath if they feel something is not right."

Suryah then pointed out that PM Modi himself follows many X accounts from the Right-Wing that have been critical of him:

"In fact PM Modi followed many X accounts from our RW lot who kept criticising him. When he is open to criticisms nobody is bigger than him I believe."

He subsequently condemned the act of name-calling of supporters, framing it as a 'disservice':

“Our supporters are our strength. They’ve always been since the good old Orkut days. Name calling & labelling them is the greatest disservice & 100% the party doesn’t endorse ANYONE doing it & YES, I’m AUTHORISED to say this." 

“Name calling our own people in public in front of DMK, Congress & sundry hyenas is even more shameful & height of immaturity (even though some people don’t have the standing!). The media will pitch in & glorify you to stab our own back; don’t fall prey."

Finally, he urged party members to remain grounded and focused on their roles:

“Keep the foot in ground & stick to your roles, nobody has any slightest right to label anyone; that too not the learned crowd who are more accomplished in life than YOU.”

Rodi’s letter received considerable backlash. He later apologised by saying “My intention was to expose abusers but I found my tweets hurted (sic) sentiments of our social media warriors too. So I apologize to those who got hurt in my recent tweets.”

This is not the first time that Soundararajan is in the eye of a storm due to her comments while interacting with the media and that has caused her detractors to say that she has not learned from the past.

Her agreement with AIADMK leader S P Velumani’s statement that an alliance of the two parties would have won over 30 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was not taken kindly by many of the party’s supporters.

It reportedly resulted in a warning from Union Home Minister Amit Shah and also gave an opportunity for the DMK to fish in troubled waters. 

In a video clip of their conversation, Shah looked unhappy and he was seen wagging his finger while talking to Soundararajan. 

DMK supporters, eager for an opportunity to criticise the BJP, alleged that he had insulted a Tamilian and it was not the right way to talk to a woman leader. Some of them went to the extent of saying that he had insulted the Nadar community to which she belongs.

Adding to the unhappiness with her, is the perception that the old guard in the party, (which includes people like Soundararajan), and their supporters, are open to an alliance with the AIADMK unlike Annamalai, and are thus not attacking them strongly or working hard enough.

They are called ‘Dravida BJP’ or ‘D-BJP’ by those who do not support an alliance. Their argument is also bolstered by the fact that even the AIADMK hardly criticises these leaders and most of their attack is reserved for Annamalai. 

AIADMK leaders often say that it was good to work with the BJP when it was under Soundararajan or Union Minister L Murugan and call them ‘sensible' unlike Annamalai, for whom words and phrases like ‘clown’, ‘man who does not know politics’ etc are often used.

The ‘no to alliance’ group, often referred to ‘Annamalai BJP’ or ‘A-BJP’ counters this by saying that it is because these leaders aren’t perceived as strong enough and that they were ready to 'adjust' with the AIADMK in order to ensure that BJP candidates got elected from a few seats. 

While it remains to be seen as to how the Tamil Nadu BJP resolves this issue, the repeated occurrence of such episodes has left the party with only one thing and that is ‘embarrassment'.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu: Annamalai-Palaniswami Showdown Is Also About Courting Kongu Vellalar Gounder Community Votes