MADURAI: In a strategic move, BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday got representatives of four OBC communities to endorse the demand of six sub-sects of Scheduled Castes to be distinctly recognised as Devendrakula Vellalars. The move is seen by observers as an attempt to build an OBC-Dalit axis in southern Tamil Nadu where traditionally several sections of the Caste Hindus are at loggerheads with the Scheduled Castes. It would, however, be too early to say if the BJP strategy would yield dividends in next year’s Assembly elections.
Participating in the ‘Madurai Declaration’ of the Devendrakula Vellalar Community at a conference organised jointly by the Devendrar Thannarva Arakkattalai and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, of which RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy was a leader, Shah hailed the Devendrakula Vellalars for opening a new chapter in promoting harmony between communities in the country. “In my 35 years of public life, I have participated in various caste conference and witnessed many protests by caste groups demanding to be declared as backward communities for political gain. But this conference is unique because the Devendrakula Vellalars want to uphold their caste honour,” he said in a bid to reach out to them. Projecting himself as no stranger to the community, Shah said he had learnt about the historical pride of Devendrakula Vellalars when a youth had referred to its contribution in an essay presented at a ‘cow protection conference’ held in Ujjain some years ago.
Backing their demand to be recognised as Devendrakula Vellalars, Shah extended the BJP’s support for the same and in return sought their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
To give the demand more political and social legitimacy, Shah got representatives of four Caste Hindu communities - Nadar, Reddiar, Naicker and Thevar - to endorse it publicly. The four, who represented organisations that professed to work for the welfare of these four OBC groups, pledged solidarity with the six sub-castes of Dalits, who were demanding that a Government Order be issued recognising them as Devendrakula Vellalars.
Meanwhile, harping on the BJP’s Lok Sabha slogan of ‘Development Sans Corruption’, the party’s chief strategist urged the youth to take a pledge to end corruption everywhere. “Corruption and development can’t go hand-in-hand. Full potential for development cannot be exploited if corruption prevailed,” Shah said.
Addressing the participants, Swadeshi Jagran Manch founder Gurumurthy blamed educational institutions, media, police and the legal system for propagating wrong understanding of social history, particularly about castes in the country. “People have a clear understanding of the cultural values of every community in society and they respect each others’ customs and values. We all should learn to respect the communities, elders, women and family values,” Gurumurthy said.
According to him, the assertion of the Devendrakula Vellalars to recognise their community’s history and honour “is a new beginning in our history, which we all should take it forward together.”
M Thangaraj, president, Devendrar Thannarva Arakkattalai, condemned Dravidian parties for refusing to acknowledge their history.
Master Strategist's Visit Enthuses TN unit to Face Dravidian Biggies
CHENNAI: For the BJP, a national party that has for long remained on the fringes in Tamil Nadu’s political map, the strategic visit of its president Amit Shah to Madurai on Thursday has revived hopes of competing with the Dravidian parties for the vote pie during the next Assembly elections.
Though the saffron party still can’t even play spoilsport to the major parties, leaders are placing faith in Shah, who is credited with turning around the political fortunes for the party in a large State like Uttar Pradesh where caste dynamics have confounded even old war horses.
And true to his credentials, Shah got down to the job in his inimitable style by getting representatives of organisations that claim to represent the OBCs such as Nadar, Thevar, Naicker and Reddiar - to pledge support for the campaign of six sub-sects of Dalits to be declared as Devendrakula Vellalars.
While the four OBC organisations are per se not significantly known outside their areas of operation, party leaders saw in it a beginning of the “social engineering” process ahead of the Assembly elections.
“The party has moved forward under the direct supervision of Shah. We have enrolled 45 lakh members in Tamil Nadu after his last visit in December 2014,” said a State BJP leader.
“As per his strategy, we will train all these new members for party work and all senior national leaders would visit Tamil Nadu in the coming days to meet people from different communities,” he added.
It was as part of this strategy that BJP general secretary Muralidhar Rao recently met the Telugu-speaking people in Tamil Nadu.
“We wish to show that our party has representation for every section of the society,” the leader said adding that Shah would be visiting Tamil Nadu again to review the progress made in various target set by him.
“Such kind of consolidation of caste-based vote bank is common in north India.
In Tamil Nadu, this is a new trend. Considering that the BJP had been branded as a ‘Brahmin’ party for a long time, the party has of late been trying to shed this upper caste image through various measures,” said Professor Ramu Manivannan of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras.
Asked if the party BJP would succeed in its efforts, he said, “The BJP may not make any immediate impact in the nextAssembly elections but the party might try to improve its vote share.”
In Prof. Ramu’s view, only party-based consolidation has worked in Tamil Nadu and building community-based vote bank would be difficult.