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Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam: Why BJP’s taking 3,000 TN residents on trip to Modi home state Gujarat

BJP says programme aims to showcase 'age-old ties' between Tamil Nadu & Gujarat. However, it's being seen as an attempt to woo Tamil voters ahead of 2024 LS polls & Karnataka elections.

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ChennaiHoping to build up the ‘Modi factor’ in Tamil Nadu ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to take at least 3,000 people from the state to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat next month for a “cultural exchange programme”.

The 10-day Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam (STS) aims to showcase the “age-old ties” between the two states as well as Modi’s ‘Gujarat model’ to the people of Tamil Nadu, where the Modi factor had failed to work for the BJP in 2019 despite a landslide victory across the country.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had won 37 of the 38 parliamentary constituencies in the state, with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-BJP alliance facing a rout.

The STS is the second such programme under the Modi government’s ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ initiative. The first one was the ‘Kashi Tamil Sangamam’, a month-long event held last year to “rediscover” links between Varanasi and Tamil Nadu.

Being held in Gujarat between 17 and 26 April this year, the STS has been planned by National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, and Saurashtra University in Rajkot, and is being facilitated by the Gujarat government.

During this period, every day a train with 288 delegates — including youth, students, teachers, entrepreneurs, professionals, and cultural experts, among others — will travel to Gujarat, where they will be shown the state’s infrastructure prowess and tourism development.

“You will experience what Modiji has done in Gujarat. During the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, people witnessed the infrastructure development of the city, the clean Ganga project, and much more. Now, too, they will witness and experience the Modi model of development,” Amar Prasad Reddy, BJP state convenor for Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat, said.

Tamil Nadu also has a significant Saurashtrian community, particularly in the Madurai region.

Speaking to ThePrint, A.S. Panneerselvan, author and fellow at Chennai’s Roja Muthiah Research Library, said: “STS is a means of reaching out to the Saurashtrian community, which is integrated with Tamil consciousness. In 12 wards of Madurai district, the Saurashtrian population decides the outcome of elections.”

Ad for Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam | Photo: Twitter, @AmritMahotsav
Ad for Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam | Photo: Twitter, @AmritMahotsav

Originally from the Gujarat region, the Saurashtrian community now mostly resides in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Their migration to the southern parts of the country is believed to be primarily a result of the desecration of the Somnath Temple, their religious centre, by Mahmud Ghazni in 1024.

Political observers add that the present outreach exercises by the BJP are likely being conducted keeping in mind not just the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, but also the upcoming Karnataka state elections. “Karnataka has a decent Tamil population with tilting power in an election,” said Panneerselvan, adding that the BJP is out to prove that it’s not just a north Indian party.

Additionally, a narrative of South vs North “rooted in resource allocation problems” makes much of south India unwinnable for the BJP, said Nilakantan R.S., author and political analyst. “This may well be a counter to that,” he added.

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai, meanwhile, told ThePrint, that these efforts will not help the BJP which plays “divisive politics” to thrive in Tamil Nadu, a state which is known as vantarai vazha vaikkum bhoomi” (a land that offers life to anyone seeking livelihood).

“Sangamams targeting Tamil Nadu are only vote-bank politics. They are not being done with the intention of propagating the Tamil language,” said Annadurai.

He highlighted the integration of the Saurashtrian community in the state, citing examples such as the renowned singer T.M. Soundararajan, known for lending his voice to Tamil Thai Vazhthu, the state song. He also noted how several MPs, MLAs, actors, and literary experts from the Saurashtrian community have earned a respected place in the state.

“They are among us, so why do this now? It is an outreach exercise. And if it is a government event, why haven’t they invited the Tamil Nadu government to be a part of it?” Sarvanan added.

BJP Tamil Nadu vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy, however, said, “When cultures of two states are being exchanged, how is it politically connected? We want to say that Tamil, the most ancient language, has connections throughout India.”


Also read: Poaching war deepens rift between BJP & AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, but parties say ‘committed to alliance’


The Gujarat-Tamil Nadu connection

According to V.G. Ramdoss, the founder of the Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce in Madurai, the Saurashtrian people came to Tamil Nadu from Gujarat following the attack on the Somnath Temple by Mahmud Ghazni sometime in 1000-1026 AD.

According to an article in The Hindu, many Saurashtrians also came to Tamil Nadu in the 17th century as royal silk weavers to the Nayak kings. According to reports, there are about 25 lakh people of Gujarati origin living in Tamil Nadu and over 12 lakh Saurashtrians in the state with a majority of them settled in Madurai, Thanjavur, and Salem.

Madurai district alone accounts for over 2.5 lakh Saurashtrians, said 67-year-old Ramdoss, who in 2012 had hosted a Global Saurashtra meet in Madurai. The event had seen participation from over one lakh people from across the country.

According to Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam’s itinerary, each batch of delegates will embark on a two-day train journey, beginning in Madurai and concluding in Somnath. Upon arrival in Somnath, they will spend two days visiting the Somnath temple for darshan and participate in an organised tour showcasing the city’s rich historical, cultural, and spiritual landmarks.

On the sixth day, the group will go on a road trip to Dwarka where multiple temple darshans have been planned. On day seven, the group will reach Vadodara by train and will be taken to Ektanagar by road, where they will see the Statue of Unity, undertake a jungle safari, see the botanical garden and the city’s nutrition park, among other things.

Tamil Nadu BJP treasurer S.R. Sekhar said the Dravidian parties play on the Tamil regional sentiment only for electoral politics, but the Sangamam events are an attempt to “unite all the regions and states across the country through languages and by using Tamil, the most ancient language, as the link language.”

This Tamil outreach “is probably the BJP’s idea of viewing India through a single prism while the South vs North divide is growing,” said Nilakantan.

(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)


Also read: Migrant safety among TN budget promises. DMK govt says revenue deficit cut in half since 2021


 

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