Tamil Nadu BJP should pick a different battle
The Tamil Nadu government’s decision to ban processions, public installations of idols and immersions on the occasion of Vinayaga Chathurthi in the state has set the ruling AIADMK on a collision course with its ally, the BJP. The state government’s decision comes amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. However, the Hindu Munnani, a right-leaning group associated with the BJP, has announced that it would defy the ban and instal idols across TN.
With the state BJP failing to persuade CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, party leader H Raja on Wednesday tweeted that he felt this year’s festival would be a battleground for Hindus. Lines have been drawn.
Ahead of Assembly polls next year, the AIADMK has been attempting to keep its ally at arm’s length to avoid a repeat of its debacle in the 2019 Parliamentary elections, when antipathy towards the saffron party rubbed off on it.
The BJP, too, has been trying to develop its own base, setting an ambitious target of 25 seats in the next House. In the process, it first turned to Lord Muruga, raising a furore over a seven-month-old YouTube video in which a hymn to the God is described in offensive terms. It sought to establish a link between the video’s makers and the opposition DMK, painting the Dravidian party as anti-Hindu. Now, it has turned its attention to Muruga’s sibling, Lord Ganesha. Whether the remover of obstacles will open Tamil hearts to the BJP remains to be seen.
However, Tamil Nadu has been reporting over 5,000 new cases each day and has a caseload of 3.55 lakh, with over 6,000 deaths. While it has seen some success in containing the pandemic with consistently high testing and surveillance efforts, the virus has by no means been tamed. As a responsible national party running the Union government in the time of a global crisis, it would be better for the BJP to choose a different battle on which to lay ground for political success rather than one that is likely to put it at odds with public health and safety.