K for Kantara, K for Karnataka: BJP’s cultural project for South India

It helps that the traditions in the film Shah referred to have a strong base in the Hindu faith. And that Kantara was produced by a company that is closely linked to Karnataka Minister C N Ashwath Narayan. (The BJP leader is currently in the news over his “finish off like Tipu” remarks against Siddaramaiah.)

Likewise, across the south, the party has tried to find space by celebrating cultural products or icons deeply rooted in the region, with largely secondary Hindu identity, which can be accommodated comfortably within its Hindutva message – including films, movie stars, and literary and historical figures.

With the BJP bracing for a slide in numbers in the north compared to 2019, its 2024 Lok Sabha result will depend a lot on gains in the south. This makes the party’s project to spread its network even more imperative.

In Tamil Nadu, a state where sub-nationalism runs deeper than most and where national parties have not been in power for long, the BJP has identified the much-revered Tamil saint and poet Thiruvalluvar as one way to the state’s heart. In recent years, the party has often used the image of the saint-poet clad in a saffron shawl – which hasn’t escaped the attention of the state’s Dravidian parties.

Recently, the BJP government at the Centre made beloved Tamil music maestro Ilayaraja a Rajya Sabha MP. It has fielded his brother Gangai Amaran as a candidate, and managed to rope in popular actors like Gautami and Khushbu as members.

Earlier this year, the Centre organised a month-long event called the Kashi Sangamam to celebrate the centuries-old links between Tamil and Varanasi. As part of this, several programmes were organised in the Uttar Pradesh city, which is also the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and trains were run from Tamil Nadu to take people there.

The BJP state leadership has also led ‘Vel Yatras’ to celebrate Lord Muruga, the most popular Tamil Hindu god.

Now the party is creating sports cells across the state to woo the youth and making inroads into ex-servicemen associations, even as Governor R N Ravi, accused of being partisan by the DMK government, has been pitching in with own cultural events and meetings that are seen as serving the BJP’s agenda.

In another strategic move playing into Tamil nationalism, a BJP delegation including state chief K Annamalai and Union Minister L Murugan recently visited Sri Lanka, and met Tamil Hindu leaders there. The objective: Reinforcing the Hindu identity of the Tamils across the border, and appealing to their counterparts at home.

Though the Karunanidhi family – now through the late DMK leader’s grandson, Udayanidhi Stalin – continues to control the Tamil film industry, the BJP has been making progress here too. Long-time political observers comment on the irony of the DMK, a past master at using cinema for ideological purposes, conceding this fertile space to the BJP.

Like Kantara in Karnataka, in Kerala, the hit film Malikappuram, set in Sabarimala, released around the Sabarimala season, with devotional songs, was celebrated by BJP leaders and cadres. In the 2021 Assembly elections in Kerala, the BJP was the most aggressive in taking on the ruling CPI(M) over its support for a Supreme Court order to allow women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple, which was opposed by devotees. Malikappuram’s hero Unni Mukundan is seen as having overt right-wing leanings.

In 2020, the Tamil-dubbed version of Malayalam movie Trance had found favour among right-wingers and BJP leaders. The ostensible reason was the film’s subtle critique of conservative, evangelical neo-Christian traditions.

Big screen apart, the BJP in Tamil Nadu has also roped in influential YouTubers to spread the party’s message.

In Karnataka, the BJP is glorifying local, lesser-known kings or chieftains from the past to forge grass-root connections, while accusing the Congress of ignoring them.

It remains to be seen though how these efforts impact the political landscape of South India, given the minefields along the way. For proof the party has the recent remarks of Ravi, in line with his constant battle with the DMK government over Dravidian identity, saying that Tamil Nadu’s name be changed as it suggested “a separate country”. The anticipated backlash so rattled the BJP that the Governor was summoned to Delhi, and made to beat a retreat.