Former IPS officer K Annamalai, who has been tasked with turning the Tamil Nadu BJP into a force to be reckoned with, has just started a ‘padyatra’ from Rameswaram. Union home minister Amit Shah, who flagged it off, sent a clarion call to the people of the state to vote out the “corrupt” DMK government in the upcoming elections.
Calling it ‘En mann, en makkal’ (My land, my people), the BJP has set off on a journey that aims at an indigenous-sounding political approach. For an electorate oozing a Dravidian rhetoric of ‘State versus Centre’, the BJP’s approach could prove to be disarming.
If one were to connect the dots ever since Annamalai took over as the state BJP chief, the party’s strategy has been clear: speak the Dravidian political language but sting like the BJP. The ‘DMK Files’ campaign, trying to establish the MK Stalin-led party as corrupt; consecutive ED raids on the state’s two powerful ministers, V Senthil Balaji and K Ponmudy, which clearly hints at more such events in future; and a padyatra to take the campaign to the people, in case they need more reminders on BJP’s visible interest in the state.
Asked about the significance of the yatra, Annamalai told News18: “We are also using this yatra to show how the DMK is alienated from the land of Tamils – family politics, corruption etc. Each day, there is some issue against some minister, absolute misgovernance and looting happening at the ground level. The yatra will focus on all these issues…”
Here is where the focus needs to shift in the DMK’s response to the BJP-led central government’s multipronged “scare tactics”: be it the ‘DMK Files’ or the ED raids, the party’s trademark political maturity, derring-do attitude and people-centric approach are missing.
Soon after the raids and the arrest of Senthil Balaji, Stalin put out a video, warning the Centre against leveraging agencies as a tool in its misadventures. Clearly, the Centre was not paying heed. This and several other instances of the DMK’s less-than-usual aggression, may be seen by some quarters as softening up, which is quite out of character for the party.
Annamalai’s narrative follows the much-treaded path of the BJP’s previous campaigns: identify the incumbent as incorrigibly corrupt, brazen, and wallowing in the hubris that dynasts are often prone to. “Recently, too, when 22 women lost their husbands, the sole breadwinners of their families, to illicit liquor, it was the DMK’s paapa (sin),” Annamalai said.
The response to the BJP’s padyatra is likely to provide two insights from ground zero: the degree of unpopularity of the DMK government and whether people will hand Annamalai the sickle to harvest it.
The AIADMK, which is the principal opposition party in the state, is making tactical noises that convey the right points but the fact remains that Edappadi Palaniswami’s political absenteeism is missed by no one. Deliberate or not, him taking the backstage as though to let Annamalai project the main opposition voice may not bode well for the party’s long-term prospects.
The timing of Annamalai’s yatra could not have been better. As we head into an election year in less than a quarter, and as opposition parties are gathering to project a united front to “save India”, we will find Annamalai steadily swimming against the tide.
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