New Delhi: Maharashtra Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan’s roots in Tamil Nadu, “loyalty” to the RSS and BJP and apparent lack of enemies, have stood him in good stead with the NDA, which Sunday announced him as the alliance candidate for the vice-presidential election due on 9 September.
In political circles in Tamil Nadu—a state where the BJP is investing heavily to win over the electorate and where Radhakrishnan was the unit president—he is known as “Ajatshatru” (one without enemies). He is also dubbed the “Vajpayee of Coimbatore”, being an old-generation leader of the (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee era. Not just this, he is considered a most respected voice when it comes to the BJP’s ties with regional rivals DMK and AIADMK.
Radhakrishnan has also backed the Centre in several utterances and minced no words in his views on Tamil identity.
Just this March, while launching the book Hedgewar: A Definitive Biography in Mumbai, he aired his thoughts on the language controversy in the state, with Chief Minister M.K. Stalin opposing “Hindi imposition”.
“In Tamil Nadu, words act as weapons, and if we keep dividing it further, it would be like boarding a town bus where you need to show your passport to get on and get off. That is the ground reality,” he said.
Similarly, when Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi sparked a row with his comments against Sanatana Dharma in 2023, Radhakrishnan took a swipe at him while speaking in Salem.
“Many Mughal kings attempted to destroy Sanatana and killed Hindus. I only find it funny that the Sanatana which survived such attempts will be eradicated by him (Udhayanidhi),” he said.
Choosing Radhakrishnan for the second-highest post in India was thus not a difficult task for the BJP, which leads the NDA.
Speaking to ThePrint, a BJP functionary said: “The party considered many names. It was clear the new Vice President would be from the RSS-BJP cadre, knowing the Dhankhar experiment did not go well.”
He was referring to Jagdeep Dhankhar who resigned abruptly as Vice President last month after accepting an opposition notice for impeaching Justice Yashwant Varma over alleged corruption, at a time when the Centre was trying to make it a bipartisan exercise. His exit was officially over health concerns but it is believed that what sealed his fate was this “act of revolt” against the government.
“The BJP has worked hard to make inroads into Tamil Nadu. Annamalai was chosen as the BJP state president despite opposition from the old guard, and it helped BJP’s expansion. Before the state election, to make peace with the AIADMK, the party replaced him. Radhakrishnan is one of the most respected names in the Tamil Nadu BJP, so elevating him as Vice President, the second-highest post, the party has sent a message to the cadre of Tamil Nadu particularly and South India in general.”
Another BJP leader said that the party’s expansion in the south happened in the Vajpayee era, when leaders like Venkaiah Naidu were promoted as BJP president, Yediyurappa as CM, and Ananth Kumar as cabinet minister.
“Later, (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi continued this southern investment by promoting G. Kishan Reddy, L. Murugan and actor Suresh Gopi from Kerala as Union ministers, and leaders from Radhakrishnan to L. Ganesan to governorships,” said the second leader. The Centre has, in fact, picked five governors from Tamil Nadu since 2014.
“What Venkaiah Naidu’s elevation did for the party in Andhra and Telangana two decades ago, Radhakrishnan’s elevation as Vice President will do for the BJP in Tamil Nadu.”
A third BJP leader who has observed Radhakrishnan’s rise in the party told ThePrint: “Other than caste and Tamil considerations, a major factor in his selection was his closeness and loyalty to the PM.”
“He was close to Venkaiah Naidu when he was BJP president, and when Modi was CM of Gujarat, he came in close contact with him. After the Dhankhar fiasco, loyalty has become a major factor, especially given the importance of the Rajya Sabha.”
When the PM posted on social media after Radhakrishnan’s selection as NDA candidate, he underlined Radhakrishnan’s grassroots work in Tamil Nadu.
“In his long years in public life, Thiru C.P. Radhakrishnan Ji has distinguished himself with his dedication, humility and intellect. During the various positions he has held, he has always focused on community service and empowering the marginalised. He has done extensive work at the grassroots in Tamil Nadu. I am glad that the NDA family has decided to nominate him as the Vice-Presidential candidate of our alliance,” he said on X.
Knowing the NDA’s majority, Radhakrishnan can well sail to the Vice President’s chair. His selection at the BJP parliamentary board meeting Sunday, however, left many hopefuls from the northern states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat disappointed.
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A loyalist
Radhakrishnan, who hails from the OBC Gounder community, started his political journey as an RSS swayamsevak in 1973, when the late Suryanarayana Rao was pracharak. A year later, he became a state executive member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to the BJP.
In 1996, he was appointed secretary of the BJP in Tamil Nadu and was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Coimbatore in 1998 following the Coimbatore bombings. He was re-elected to the House in 1999 during Vajpayee’s time and Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh’s tenures as BJP president. Between 2004 and 2007, he served as Tamil Nadu BJP president.
His 1998 poll victory came during the BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK and the 1999 one in alliance with the DMK. After that, he unsuccessfully contested the 2004 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
One of Radhakrishnan’s key organisational works was a 19,000 km rath yatra that lasted 93 days. The yatra was organised to highlight the demands for linking all Indian rivers, eradicating terrorism, implementing a uniform civil code, removing untouchability, and combating the menace of narcotic drugs. He led two more padayatras for different causes.
In 2016, after Modi took over as PM, Radhakrishnan was appointed chairman of the Coir Board of India, a position he held for four years. Under his leadership, coir exports from India reached an all-time high of Rs 2,532 crore, according to the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan.
From 2020 to 2022, he was the all-India in-charge of BJP for Kerala. He was subsequently appointed as Governor of Jharkhand, Telangana and Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
His appointment as Governor of Jharkhand had led to many in the Tamil Nadu BJP speculating that the party wanted to clear the road for the aggressive Annamalai. However, during his tenure in Jharkhand, Radhakrishnan toured the state extensively, making JMM leader Hemant Soren uncomfortable.
He has often hailed the RSS in his speeches and his connection to the outfit is seen as a major factor in his political growth. At one function in Maharashtra, he recalled the influence of RSS founder Hedgewar.
“He started the organisation with schoolboys. People questioned whether these small boys could build a Hindu Rashtra, but he never worried. Today, RSS is one of the largest national corps, producing people who live for society and the country,” he said.
While speaking on the language row in Tamil Nadu this March, he claimed that “secessionist forces” remain active in Tamil Nadu and Punjab, albeit in different ways, and said the thoughts of unity and integration propounded by Hedgewar were more relevant today than ever.
In his various utterances, however, Radhakrishnan has been careful to not cross any red lines.
A diplomat
One of Radhakrishnan’s key strengths is that he is seen as having friends in both the DMK and AIADMK.
The DMK will particularly face a peculiar problem in attacking his candidature for the Vice President’s post, for despite his attacks on Stalin and his son over the Sanatan Dharma row, he has also praised the Tamil Nadu CM.
After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the DMK-Congress combine swept Tamil Nadu, in an unusual move, Radhakrishnan described Stalin as the “commander who defeated the BJP”. At a marriage function in Tiruppur, he also said that “all of us (in the BJP) must work even more like (late DMK leader and Stalin’s father) Karunanidhi”.
Pragmatically, Radhakrishnan has also kept communication channels open with the DMK.
Last month, when news broke of Stalin being ill, he visited his house to enquire about his health. And when Stalin’s brother-in-law M. Selvam died last October, he was among the first leaders to visit and pay respects to the family.
By elevating an OBC Tamilian to the post of Vice President, the BJP is also seen as sending a political message to the OBC community, particularly in western Tamil Nadu. The Gounder community, which is estimated to make up about 10% of the state population, is a significant electoral constituency. AIADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami, who is leading the state alliance with the BJP, also belongs to the Gounder community, and so does Annamalai.
Interestingly, Radhakrishnan has long been aware of the importance of Hindi for the BJP. A journalist who has known him closely told ThePrint that “unlike other Tamil politicians, he was well aware of the importance of Hindi language for the BJP. So, whenever he visited Delhi, he used to take lessons in Hindi.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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