BJP Should Replicate Kanyakumari Success In Tamil Nadu

Recently, I was invited to appear on a talk show. The aim of the talk show was to prove that Dravidian politics was instrumental in making Tamil Nadu prosperous. In the course of the recording, one man shouted,

“Do you realize even small parties shun BJP in Tamil Nadu?” By that he meant Tamil Nadu is a place where the lotus can never bloom. That part was of course edited out later. What that person conveniently forgot was that both the Dravidian parties have had electoral alliances with the BJP and thus enjoyed power at the Centre.

If one is to observe only the present political scenario and coalition formation in Tamil Nadu, the condition of the BJP that is shunned by even the castiest PMK looks pathetic. Meanwhile, there is also a visible disappointment with Dravidian politics. Tamil people have been rudely awakened at how Dravidian politics allowed the mass killing of Tamils to happen in Sri Lanka despite the DMK being in power both at the Centre and the state.

The so-called Tamil nationalists sponsored by pro-Christian forces have already started trying to encroach upon the vacuum created by the bankruptcy of Dravidian politics. Tamil nationalist movements have also taken up a green mantle and stalling every project in the state. In their fantasy land of Lemuria, they believe any changes even at the subatomic levels can be catastrophic. Lemurian fantasies even neutrinos kill.

The people mostly look to the Tamil nationalists for some comical relief that they provide with their exaggerated theatrics. The fact remains that Tamils do need an alternative. They need someone to who can cross the ocean of despair that has been brought about by Dravidian politics.

Like Lord Hanuman who forgot his own strength, the ones who can accomplish this task sit bewildered. Every other day a state BJP leader makes a statement inviting political prodigal sons to their camp, only to be shunned by the latter. This was not the party we knew in the 1980s and surely this is not the party that could conduct itself with an air of superiority in the state politics in the 1990s. What has gone wrong now?

The harsh truths are these: Instead of positioning itself as a strong alternative to Dravidian politics not just in rhetoric but also in words and deeds, the party has allowed itself to be swayed by Dravidian elements.

For example, instead of nurturing its own band of leadership rooted in Hindutva ideology, BJP wasted time and effort in giving room to leaders like Thirunavukarasar, a notorious party-hopper who in turn filled the important posts of BJP with his own henchmen.

In a state like Tamil Nadu where a growing political movement needs a vital art-propaganda wing, this responsibility was handed over to Kasi Muthu Manikam, again a strong Thirunavukarasar supporter who was rooted in Dravidianist empty rhetoric. The party propaganda cell never took up any of the causes for which one votes for BJP. Let us look at the disastrous consequences this had for the BJP.

During the 2002 Gujarat riots, the anti-BJP propaganda cells in Tamil Nadu worked overtime churning out all sorts of hate literature against BJP and Hindutva. Except for the Sangh Parivar sponsored publications, the media cell of BJP was conspicuous by its overall silence.

  After the Gujarat riots, every riot trial was made into a sensational media circus. The Gujarat government was made to look like a villain and the cases were brought out of the state.

But in Tamil Nadu, despite the preferential treatment given to Madhani, the main accused Madhani in the Coimbatore blast case, and the progressive weakening of the case by the state government, the state BJP never bothered to make it a national issue and draw the attention of the people as well as victims to the injustice being done to them.

  During the last one decade Jihadist terror has systematically eliminated Hindu activists. The murderers have seldom been punished though arrests have been made. The state BJP has never made this the core issue of their propaganda either.

Before the 2014 General Elections, when Narendra Modi came to Tamil Nadu as the Prime Ministerial candidate, he was made to go to see actor Rajnikanth. The visit elicited only a humiliating ambiguous statement from that actor who is known to give voice only when his personal benefits are at stake. Instead, had the party brought to the dais and honoured the families of all Hindu martyrs, it would have sent a strong message to the public and heralded a new politics.  

In the last few decades, Tamil Nadu has seen a severe corrosion of its cultural capital centred around the temple. The government ministry controlling Hindu temples has become a den of corruption and valuable sculptures are getting lost. The Modi government has been proactive in bringing back lost antiques.

Yet one finds no mass awareness of this silent war between Dravidian mismanagement of Tamil Nadu cultural treasures and the BJP government’s efforts to get back lost cultural treasures. Corruption in the management of Hindu temples has enraged common Tamil Hindus, yet the BJP has failed to make it a mass movement, even though it would have struck an emotional chord with the electorate.

  Where are the round the year street plays that could have informed the people of the squandering of temple wealth, destruction of temple ponds, mismanagement of temple wealth, wanton destruction of the sculptures and rampant corruption?  Where are the awareness campaigns on justice denied to the victims of Jihadist terror because of political intervention in the otherwise efficient police force of Tamil Nadu?

They are simply non-existent in the TN BJP’s plan of action.   If the TN BJP is being humiliated by every pseudo-secular party in the state during coalition talks what is preventing it from making electoral alliance with Hindu Makkal Katchi (Hindu People’s Party) whose leader has been making himself the centre of attraction on many Hindu issues rightly or wrongly.

Has anyone bothered to tell the people of Tamil Nadu that the iconic Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari was originally planned and proposed to the Tamil Nadu government by an RSS leader: Eknath Ranade? It is through a BJP MP and during BJP rule that the Thirukural was taken to the heart of Indian Parliament and the chanting of Kural reverberated in its hall—an achievement the Dravidian parties could never have dreamt about.

Yet the party allowed the stage to be overtaken by Vaira Muthu—a pro-DMK film-songs writer, rather than genuine Thirukural scholars. An opportunity to win the hearts of the Tamil people was lost yet again.

Had these events been properly publicized, today the BJP would have become a force to reckon with in Tamil Nadu. The Sangh Parivar has done more for the dissemination of the Thirukural than the Dravidian movement. If the Tamil mind is sensitized towards this, it would bring a perceptional shift in the political psyche of the ordinary Tamilian.

What one needs to note here is that Tamil Nadu has gained more during Modi’s two years than it did in the last one decade when DMK was part of the ruling coalition. After the Modi government came to power, the killing of Tamil fishermen stopped. The Modi government rescued a Tamil Catholic priest from almost definite death in the hands of Islamic fundamentalists. But in the purely political arena BJP lacks its own strategy and only seems to ape the Dravidian propaganda.

There are lessons which could be learnt from Kanyakumari district where BJP has always been strong—no matter what the leaders may do to weaken it. In fact, the municipal administration of the capital of Kanyakumari district that is under the control of BJP has not exactly earned accolades from even the strongest admirers of the party. Yet Kanyakumari district is counted as one of the strongholds of BJP in the state. There is an acceptance of the party cutting across religious divides. The reason is that BJP has spread the Hindutva roots widely in the district and has blended with the local culture and systems.

Before BJP came to the district, there were organized Hindu religious classes for students to counter the proselytizing. One of the leading figures of early Hindutva movement in Tamil Nadu was the late Thanulinga Nadar an ex-MP, Gandhian and a strong nationalist who was the guiding force for the Hindutva movement. Almost all senior BJP leaders as well as cadre in the district have been influenced by his values. He never contested elections.

He never had political ambitions. He simply wanted Hindus to have a peaceful harmonious coexistence without the fear of conversion and violence. In 2016, during his centenary celebrations, Muhammad Isamil, a highly respected leader in Kanyakumari district known for his integrity, spoke of the work Thanulinga Nadar put in to get justice to Hindus in the district.

Clearly, a straightforward Hindutva stand would win real secular friendship for BJP in the state. In fact, Thanulinga Nadar should be seen as a continuation in the footsteps of Ayya Vaikundar whose movement uniting Hindus under a saffron flag was perhaps the first ‘saffronization’ attempt in modern times here.

The BJP needs to repeat this in every district and at a war footing to make up for the decades lost. Let us consider this. The legacy of Madurai Pillai, an entrepreneur who came in the lineage of Valluvar is there. BJP with its ideological stand of Hindutva that claims that all communities are equal inheritors of India’s cultural and spiritual wealth can claim the legacy of Madurai Pillai. It can doubly do so with the thrust given by the Prime Minister in rekindling the entrepreneurial spirit among the Scheduled Communities.

Despite omissions there is a perceptible change in Tamil Nadu BJP today. There are candidates in the BJP who are loved across party lines by common people. Even the ruling party was made to change its candidate for fear of losing to BJP candidates in certain areas.

The BJP is growing beyond its traditional bastions and the Tamil psyche increasingly seems to see BJP as an alternative. It is time Tamil Nadu BJP provides a forceful alternative to Dravidian politics. Sane voices within the Tamil people like Jambhavan has said to the BJP : “Realize your might and take the plunge in full form.”  The Dravidian state is ripe for saffron.