#GoBackAmitShah: Breaching Tamil Nadu won't be a walk on Marina Beach for the BJP
Amit Shah landed in Chennai amidst the chants of #gobackamitshah.
The Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP pulled out all stops to ensure a grand success of its party president Amit Shah’s visit to Chennai.
Alas, it only turned out to be a huge embarrassment for the party, as Shah landed in Chennai amidst the chants of #gobackamitshah.
With over 1,20,000 tweets the BJP top brass had to face the ire of a state that has been indifferent to the overtures of the saffron party. The #gobackamitshah highlights the inherent problems BJP face in a bipolar state like Tamil Nadu.
The state witnessed a political churn following demise of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. DMK chief Karunanidhi has been inactive as well. But the BJP has been unable to tap the political vacuum in the past one and a half years.
In spite of a conducive environment, the BJP finds it hard to shed its image of an “outsider”.
Starting from the Jallikattu protests, opposition for the Neutrino observatory in Theni to the agitations against NEET and delay in setting up of the Cauvery Water Management Board, the series of anti-BJP protests only witnessed the anger rising against the party.
For Amit Shah, the man with the Midas touch, Tamil Nadu remains one of the biggest challenges. The BJP candidate in the recent RK Nagar bypolls, held in December 2017, lost to NOTA. So poor was the national party’s performance that it failed to leave a mark in what was touted to be an important election.
It’s in this context that Shah’s visit is considered very crucial to boost the morale of party cadres and also to sow the seeds of alliance formation for 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Invoking Tamil pride, Amit Shah on Monday insisted that no other party was as committed to preserving it as the BJP. With just a lone MP, BJP is trying to manoeuvre through the complex caste dynamics in the Dravidian heartland.
The state-level conference of the SC/ST wing of the party in May was seen as an attempt to shed its upper caste party tag. The party has now trained its guns on the dominant Vanniyar community in northern Tamil Nadu. Enjoying a strong support among the Nadar community, the party is also eyeing the politically significant Thevar community votes in southern Tamil Nadu.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Jayalalithaa rode to success thundering. Tamil Nadu’s lady was better than Gujarat’s Modi in providing better administration in all spheres of the governance. The AIADMK had won 37 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats.
Cut to present: The AIADMK is in chaos and struggling to keep the flock together. Rebel leader TTV Dhinakaran’s success in RK Nagar bypolls made him a darling of masses.
In a state where politics propel star power, superstars Rajinikanth and "Ulaganayagan" Kamal Haasan have chosen the perfect time to take political plunge.
While Rajinikanth vows by spiritual politics making him a natural ally of the BJP, a recent meeting between Kamal Haasan and Congress president Rahul Gandhi has given credence to the speculations of an alternative alliance.
Political observers don’t rule out a rainbow alliance that would consist of the Congress, Kamal’s party, the two left parties and TTV Dhinakaran.
The two national parties, Congress and BJP, which have always piggybacked on any of the Dravidian majors, will again have to look for an ally in the Dravidian parties.
The DMK, which is the principal opposition in the state, is trying to bring the Congress and the other political parties under one umbrella in the state to oppose the ruling AIADMK and the BJP in the Centre.
Parties like Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(MDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) are likely to be part of a DMK-led alliance, led by MK Stalin.
Nursing chief ministerial ambitions, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss is likely to test its might once again by going it alone like in the Assembly polls, 2016. The fractured mandate of the AIADMK will be solace for the BJP.