Chennai: In the two weeks since K. Annamalai left for the UK for a three-month fellowship, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit that he heads has had a clear change of tack.
The party is focusing more of its ire on the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and ignoring the other Dravidian party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
Under Annamalai’s direct leadership, the Tamil Nadu BJP unit had trained its guns more on its former ally and the principal opposition party, the AIADMK.
In Annamalai’s absence, the party has put a new six-member committee in charge whose head, BJP senior leader and national executive committee member H. Raja, comes from a background vastly different from Annamalai’s.
Raja is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s ideological parent, and is waging an ideological battle against the DMK government that is driven by the RSS agenda by focusing on issues like the two-language policy.
An old-time BJP functionary close to the state leadership told ThePrint that the new committee is concentrating on positioning the party as a political as well as ideological rival of the ruling DMK while ignoring the opposition AIADMK.
“Though Annamalai also used to counter DMK on ideological lines, he was more concerned in positioning himself alongside the party as a prominent leader in the state, countering the opposition AIADMK vehemently,” the party old-timer said.
“But the committee is waging a war against the ruling DMK taking up the two-language policy and other religious issues.”
He said the change was driven by the strong RSS background of some members of the committee.
The DMK government is opposed to the Centre’s continuous attempts to introduce a three-language policy, which it says will open the gates to the imposition of Hindi and diminish the importance of Tamil.
The DMK wants to continue the two-language policy of English and Tamil followed in the state since the 1960s.
However, BJP leaders denied any change in policy after Annamalai left for the UK Foreign Office’s Chevening Gurukul Fellowship for Leadership and Excellence Programme.
The BJP’s state general secretary and a member of the interim coordination committee, Raama Sreenivasan, said the committee is functioning for the welfare of the party and will not take any major policy decisions.
“We don’t see any difference in our functioning; we work in the same way. Now we are focusing on the membership drive to strengthen the party,” Sreenivasan said.
Inroads in Tamil Nadu
The BJP has been trying to make inroads in Tamil Nadu, but will its change of tack pay off politically in the state? Experts say not until it clears the confusion over friends and foes.
Political commentator Maalan Narayanan said a section of the party, inspired by Annamalai, believes both the DMK and AIADMK are their rivals.
But another group, including senior leaders, does not want to antagonise the AIADMK as it thinks it will help them defeat the DMK.
“Unless they get clarity on who is their immediate rival and who is their immediate friend to dethrone the DMK from power, the party will go directionless,” said Narayanan.
Meanwhile, the BJP and the DMK government have been at loggerheads, with the education policy being one of the biggest bones of contention between them in recent days.
In the most recent flareup in tensions, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin accused the Modi government of denying funds to best-performing states for refusing to bow to the National Education Policy (NEP).
Stalin’s comments came after The Hindu reported that the Union government was withholding funds for a central school education scheme from five non-BJP states, including Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as “punishment for refusing to accept” either the PM SHRI scheme or the NEP.
But BJP’s Raja said the DMK was playing politics with the education of children.
“They are not against the Hindi language policy; they are against the poor children learning Hindi in government schools. Because they want children to get admitted to the Sunshine school run by M.K. Stalin’s daughter and son-in-law,” he said.
The party old-timer quoted earlier said Raja’s stand reflected the BJP state unit’s changed political strategy of training its guns on the DMK and not the AIADMK.
“He (Raja) did not mince his words when it came to defending the Union government on funding for education. At the same time, he took a dig at the DMK as well. This became the centre of the talking point since he did not utter anything about AIADMK,” he said.
“However, Annamalai was making the AIADMK the immediate rival, and that was keeping the party out of central issues.”
Under pressure
Annamalai was said to be under constant pressure to prove himself as the leader in the state and have a strong presence in the state’s western region, where AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami hails from.
“Before and after the Lok Sabha election, he was under pressure to prove that his decision to part ways with the AIADMK was right. He has been defending it even as he was about to leave for the UK. But Rajaji is very clear that the alliance is a matter that is to be decided by the national leadership and he takes on the DMK sharply,” a senior BJP leader from Coimbatore told ThePrint.
The BJP and the AIADMK ended a longstanding but tense alliance last year before the Lok Sabha polls, triggered by Annamalai’s repeated personal attacks on AIADMK leaders.
A senior party leader said, unlike Annamalai, Raja understood the importance of focusing on ideological rather than personal issues.
“He became an MLA for the first time at the age of 35 when the BJP was in alliance with the DMK. Since then, he knows the difference between ideological war and personal enmity,” the senior leader said.
“Despite criticising the DMK’s first family politically and ideologically, he still maintains a good personal rapport with Stalin and other senior ministers.”
Annamalai, on the other hand, made personal attacks on AIADMK leaders, including former chief minister C.N. Annadurai, instead of talking against the principles and ideology of the Dravidian leaders.
Experts said Annamalai’s criticism of AIADMK leader Palaniswami was a tactical move aimed at bringing the AIADMK vote share to the BJP because he realised the futility of taking on the DMK which has a strong hold over the state.
“Unlike former chief minister M. Karunanidhi, there is no anti-incumbency against M.K. Stalin. So, there is no point in attacking Stalin since it is not going to fetch them any new votes,” political commentator Ravindran Duraisamy said.
“But by portraying Edappadi K. Palaniswami as a weak leader, the BJP will get the AIADMK vote share, who would want to defeat the DMK.”
BJP leaders, however, said there was no shift in the party’s approach in Tamil Nadu.
“Every leader has a style to lead the party and H. Rajaji, with decades of experience, is leading it in his own way in accordance with the party high command’s instructions,” said the BJP state unit’s IT and social media wing co-convenor, Karthik Gopinath.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also read: Stalin’s US visit, Rajnikanth & DMK minister ‘banter’ reignite debate over Udhayanidhi’s elevation