CHENNAI: BJP’s campaign recipe in Tamil Nadu, compared to West Bengal, Kerala, has been slightly different.
The saffron party which is known to evoke Hindu sentiments and issues relating to temple and cow politics has somehow kept those topics in low key in this State during campaigns.
In fact, just like their principal ally AIADMK, the BJP too has continued its attack on DMK mainly on dynastic politics, stance on women issues, rowdy-rule while discourses regarding religion have been confined to social media campaigns and media advertisements.
While the BJP raked up the Sabarimala issue as a poll plank in Kerala, terming that the LDF “crushed” the sentiments of Hindu devotees in the whole of South India, in West Bengal, senior BJP leaders have openly criticized CM Mamata Banerjee as a “Muslim appeaser”.
In fact, Mamata even had to come out and say she is a “Hindu girl”. However, this attempt at a religious polarisation is lacking in Tamil Nadu. Even issues about Ram Mandir, Love Jihad, Cow politics, among other noted topics in a BJP campaign were not a part of discourse here.
The BJP had earlier attempted to bring religion into political discourse by taking the Vel Yatra but it got diluted when DMK leader MK Stalin took the Vel, and even Naam Tamilar Katchi leader Seeman making multiple visits to Murugan temples, criticizing the BJP’s efforts to portray “Tamil God” Murugan in their “Hindu political” discourse.
Subsequently, DMK also made a slew of promises in its manifesto appealing to the Hindu community members on increasing priest pension, allowance for pilgrimages, and allocation of Rs. 1000 crore for temple renovation.
Apart from this, DMK’s spokespersons have been countering BJP’s portrayal of DMK as an “Anti-Hindu”, by saying that it was the majority of Hindus who got benefited from the reservation policies of the DMK and the party was only keen on giving social justice to the oppressed people within the Hindu communities. “We have even promised reservations in private companies and only the majority community who are Hindus is going to benefit from it,” said a DMK secretary from Chennai.
Despite its “anti-Hindu” jab now and then, the BJP has also announced measures for Hindu community members by promising to free Hindu temples from government control. Even when big leaders like Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah visited Chennai, they targeted the DMK primarily on women’s issues, corruption, and rowdy-rule among other things on similar lines.
The BJP leaders also focussed on highlighting developmental measures done by them and AIADMK, and also spoke about the future projects promised for Tamil Nadu such as AIIMS, with also highlighting the role MGR and Jayalalithaa played for the State.
A BJP leader in Chennai says that the party is contesting a lesser number of seats and Tamil Nadu’s dynamics of caste-politics needs to be evaluated in political discourse. “All States are not the same but the party has largely vowed to uphold the Hindu values and promised measures for the community members,” said the leader.
While the AIADMK and PMK may have been silent on the CAA issue when it was a hot topic, both the parties too put caste and development as a priority, not paying much heed to religious politics.
However, the BJP has made several attempts to make inroads through caste lines, namely, issuing the Devendrakula Vellalar identity tag, a demand by members of the Scheduled Caste Pallar Community in Tamil Nadu.
Political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy says that the BJP is not a principal force in Tamil Nadu and they also classify as a party in the third rank, with a mere 2.5 percent vote bank. “Caste polarisation is the main issue in TN and religious polarisation has failed even in the past. Religious polarisation, however, could have been attempted under a caste-neutral leader like Rajinikanth but he’s not contesting,” said Duraisamy.
BJP’s political discourses on Ram Mandir, Cow-politics, or Love Jihad have no relevance to Tamil Nadu’s issues but these issues may be raked up if BJP tries to pit itself as an opponent to DMK in the future. “They are attempting to create an image like it is DMK vs BJP. If DMK comes to power and AIADMK scrambles on caste lines, BJP feels it can be an opposition to DMK,” adds Duraisamy.
He points out that for the upcoming parliamentary elections, if the DMK is still with Congress, it can still be BJP with AIADMK, BJP with AMMK, or BJP with Kamal Hassan. “All these are possible,” adds Duraisamy.