Will Modi Drive Into Tamil Nadu Voters’ Hearts with ‘Amma Two-Wheeler Scheme’ Launch?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) “Amma Scooter Scheme” on Saturday (24 February), saying he was happy to launch the dream project of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa. However, some leaders among the AIADMK felt the Prime Minister was attempting to gain mileage from the scooter scheme.

In the May 2016 elections to the assembly, the AIADMK had promised in its manifesto that if returned to power, its government would provide 50 per cent subsidy to working women to buy two-wheelers. Jayalalithaa never lived long enough to launch the scheme, falling seriously ill in September 2016 and passing away in December. The Edappadi K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government decided to launch her pet project to commemorate her seventieth birth anniversary. Under the scheme, women, whose annual income doesn’t exceed Rs 2.5 lakh, are given Rs 25,000 or 50 per cent of the cost of the two-wheeler they opt to buy. The state government has decided to give the subsidy to one lakh women every year.

Modi handed over the keys of the vehicles to a few beneficiaries before stressing on the importance of empowering women. He said if a woman was educated and healthy, her entire family would benefit.

The Times of India reported that Modi was keen to take part in the launch since it would benefit one lakh women in Tamil Nadu. The daily said that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) invited the Prime Minster to launch the scheme after he was ridiculed for not getting Modi to unveil Jayalalithaa’s portrait in the state assembly.

An unnamed AIADMK minister was quoted as saying that the Prime Minister was impressed by the “massive” nature of the project. Modi’s participation in the state government programme is seen as an indication of the EPS-led AIADMK inching close towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Last week, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam told a gathering that he and EPS came together, burying their differences, on the Prime Minister’s advice.

But all is not smooth between the EPS government and the state BJP. Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan, last week, charged the Tamil Nadu government of encouraging separatist elements. Political analysts are of the view that the BJP is trying to garner the AIADMK votes that it thinks are up for grabs after Jayalalithaa’s demise. The thinking is despite rebel AIADMK leader T T V Dinakaran winning the R K Nagar assembly constituency, represented by Jayalalithaa until her death, with a massive margin.