BJP’s new bedfellow in TN is an old enemy – the Dravidian identity

To gain political traction in Tamil Nadu, experts say the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is rolling out a strategy that the party has not tried elsewhere in the country.

Party insiders and political observers point out that the BJP is strategically repositioning itself on key regional issues when it comes to the southern state. It is willing to be seen dabbling with ideology and beliefs that the party representatives in the past, and some in the present too, may have thought were inimical to the party, they say.

Annamalai takes the lead

The BJP is embarking on a new ‘Dravidian’ strategy and it is spearheaded by its state leadership, which is taking turns to raise the red flag or the chequered flag depending on the platform it is standing on.  BJP Tamil Nadu state president K Annamalai is showing that he can protest against Hindi, the ‘link language’ being pushed by his bosses nationally, as well as attempt to run a race with Dravidian ideologues in the state.

“I am darker than Yuvan Shankar Raja and am a black Dravidian too…I don’t know Hindi,” Annamalai said recently after a picture shared by music director Yuvan Shankar Raja on social media recently created a stir. Yuvan’s post, saying he was a “black Dravidian” and a “proud Tamizhan”, came in the midst of controversy over his father and music maestro Ilayaraja equating PM Modi with the founding father of the Indian constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, in a foreword to a book.

Also read: If you are black, are you Dravidian? Yuvan’s Insta post stokes row

Annamalai’s comments on Dravidianism were in stark contrast to what he had said in June 2021, soon after assuming leadership of the state unit. “The Dravidian ideology is not real,” he had told the media.

On Annamalai’s recent comment, BJP’s spokesperson Narayanan Thirupathy said that the state president’s reference to Dravidian identity needs to be seen in the geographical context.

Shrugging off outsider tag

“The DMK has been gaining only with the word ‘Dravidian’. Why shouldn’t we stake our claim over it? We belong to the same land and we are Dravidian, too. The identity is not just for the DMK party alone,” Thirupathy pointed out.

“The DMK cannot oust us saying we are outsiders. We speak Tamil and each one of us is a Tamizhan. We were born in this land and so we are also Dravidian,” he added.

The BJP’s rollout of its Dravidian strategy began earlier this year. In January 2022, in an interview to BBC Tamil, Annamalai tactically fielded a question on how he is going to take forward the legacy of social justice of Dravidian parties. Appreciating the work done by both the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, he said he envisioned ‘Dravidian Plus’ in Tamil Nadu and that BJP would deliver it.

Also read: Will get 150 seats in next Assembly polls, says BJP’s TN chief Annamalai

Other senior BJP leaders from the state added muscle to Annamalai’s statement, referring to H Raja’s statement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also a Dravidian, analysts point out.

Past failures

Political observers point out that this is not the first attempt by the state BJP to go on this route. Bengaluru-based Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science at GITAM University, Dr G Arunkumar, said the BJP attempted to appropriate Dravidian identity in the past when Tamilisai Soundararajan was the president of Tamil Nadu BJP.

“However, it never took off. Right from Pon Radhakrishnan to L Murugan, everybody tried to appropriate Dravidian identity, but they faced the wrath of the party seniors and their colleagues. So, it did not go well down the line,” Arunkumar said.

Also read: Urban body poll results proof of BJP’s growing roots in Tamil Nadu

He added: “One of the main reasons for pursuing the Dravidian identity now is that the AIADMK is not active enough politically and one difference between AIADMK and BJP is the distance of each of the parties from the Dravidian identity. If they could appropriate that as well, they feel there could be acceptability among the Tamils here.”

Appropriation strategy

Skeptics, however, point out that BJP’s strategy is not likely to give it a headway in the state.

Thiyagu, a writer and social activist, said: “Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong once said we have to be careful with the people who carry red flags against the same red flag. That’s exactly what BJP is doing in Tamil Nadu. They saw Dravidianism as a hindrance to entering the State and so now they appropriated Dravidianism as well. This is in no way going to change their nationalism ideology. Appropriation of Dravidian is not the only strategy, they would soon appropriate anything and everything in the state.”