BJP’s best-laid Tamil Nadu plans, and the R N Ravi effect

Since Narendra Modi surged to power in 2014, the BJP has been trying aggressively to shed its image of a Hindi heartland party, and to expand to areas out of its reach – specifically the South (barring Karnataka) and the Northeast.

The weakening of the AIADMK following Jayalalithaa’s illness and demise helped the BJP ride piggyback on it, and it roped in popular film stars to expand its base. After the efforts did not translate into electoral gains, the BJP stepped up its outreach, the latest example being the month-long Kashi-Tamil Samagam in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Modi. The Centre has also announced several national events to celebrate Tamil language and culture.

Recently, BJP president J P Nadda urged social media volunteers of the party in the state to ensure that communications by the party went out in both Tamil and English. He also asked them to highlight Tamil culture, practices and ethos, to make the people in the state comfortable with the party and its campaigns.

Another push has been towards wooing small backward castes – especially Vanniyars – to shun the BJP’s image of an upper caste-dominated party. The social justice politics of the state means the backward castes hold major influence in Tamil Nadu.

A senior BJP leader from Tamil Nadu said many in the party might agree with Ravi’s suggestion to rename the state. “But this is not the time to say that. If you are a party that is a formidable alternative, you can say it, not when you are struggling to grow,” the leader said, wondering at “who was advising the Governor”, leading to “controversy after controversy”.

A senior RSS leader from Coimbatore also questioned the wisdom of Ravi’s moves. “Replacing the AIADMK as the DMK’s chief rival has been one of our biggest political gains in the last two years. The conflict is now between the DMK and BJP or the DMK and the Central government, not the DMK and the AIADMK. State chief Annamalai has also been successful in reducing unwarranted conflicts with ally AIADMK through his non-confrontational approach. But Ravi’s remarks such as renaming Tamil Nadu as ‘Tamizhagam’, or replacement of the state emblem with the Central government’s… are seen as a bid by him to erase the Tamil cultural and linguistic identity,” the RSS leader said, adding that Modi himself was part of the outreach to Tamil Nadu.

A veteran BJP leader sidelined over the past three years said Ravi was also meddling in the party’s affairs. “Posters praising the Governor were distributed to cadres by a BJP district secretary today. These don’t have a picture of Annamalai. Another district president gave a call to gherao a state minister’s home over the Assembly incident. Annamalai or Ravi, who is the party leader here?” the leader said.

A senior BJP leader who has been working with the Tamil Nadu unit said: “The Governor may have had his reasons… But the incident has given a big stick to Tamil parties to attack us with.” Cautioning that the party cannot ignore the deep sense of Tamil pride among the people of the state, he said: “Such controversies can spoil our efforts. The voters here are different.”

The senior leader also pointed out that as the Governor of Nagaland, Ravi had alienated that state’s government too, despite the BJP being an ally in it. The state BJP then too had been upset over his actions eroding their efforts.