Chennai: Unable to make much headway through strenuous attempts at 'Hindu consolidation' in the Dravidian heartland, the BJP has set its eyes on a new ground, the Tamil political space, left untapped by the party thus far.
The new plan has the stamp of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has never missed an opportunity to reiterate that Tamil is the oldest language to endear himself to the people of the state. For inaugurating the month-long jamboree at Varanasi, Modi arrived attired in a dhoti and sporting an angavastram (long towel) like a Tamil.
Well, this conscious sartorial preference was witnessed earlier too during his summit with Chinese President Xi Jingping at Mahabalipuram and later at the inauguration of the Chess Olympiad in Chennai. He also quotes from Thirukural, composed by saint poet Thiruvalluvar 2000 years ago.
Though ridiculed by social media warriors opposed to the saffron brigade, Modi is unfazed and very keen to ensure that the BJP makes steady inroads in Tamil Nadu, which is wedded to Dravidian politics.
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While the party has stepped into Tamil identity politics, it has not given up religious polarisation altogether. It is very evident that the KTS, has been designed more as an age-old spiritual connect between Tamil Nadu and Varanasi.
Over 3000 participants from the state are taken to Varanasi in batches and a good number among them are either BJP cadres and supporters. A group of savite mutt heads were also honoured by the Prime Minister. As such, it is a strategic move to bridge both. But the question is whether this will yield fruit? Will this help the BJP to shed the 'north Indian party' tag?
For, this comes close on the heels of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during a recent visit, pitching for Tamil as medium of instruction in medicine and engineering disciplines and party leader in the state of late accusing the ruling DMK of having done precious little for the promotion of Tamil. Clearly, the saffron party is taking on the Dravidian major on one of its core ideological planks.
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Former BJP functionary Oagain Natarajan, who has edited a book, collection of essays for the Kasi-Tamil connect, maintains that the KTS is not a mere jamboree but a strong signal to the DMK. “The BJP has put the DMK on the mat. No more it can claim Tamil and the linguistic political space as its exclusive domain.
Tamil Nadu remains a last frontier for the party and Modi is determined to win it over,” he said questioning the DMK's contribution to the development of Tamil and its spread outside the borders of the state. “The BJP is not worried over not involving the State government in organising the event,” he added.
Denying that the event is being held with an eye on the 2024 LS election, BJP state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy, said “people used to blame the BJP of not doing enough for Tamil, but, when the Centre is giving importance and due prominence to Tamil, they see a political motive.”
Right from its inception the Dravidian movement and its predecessors, the Justice Party and Self Respect Movement, have used Tamil as a political weapon. It was the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 that propelled the DMK into power in 1967, within 18 years after it was founded. Not only the DMK, passion for the mother tongue remains sacrosanct for the AIADMK and other Dravidian parties like the MDMK of Vaiko.
Interestingly, it was DMK MP Kanimozhi who was instrumental in organising the 'Chennai Sangamam', a open air festival of folk arts and concerts besides food fests, since 2007 during the Pongal season in mid-January. It has not been held for the last two years and instead 'Namma Ooru Thiruvizha,' a truncated version of Sangamam was conducted last year, excluding her.
Sensing the BJP's move, the DMK had launched the broadside against the parivaar. “Centuries of sins committed against Tamil by the parivar cannot be washed away by conducting a month-long sangamam. They are not washable even if they hold it for many more years. For, such is the litany of sins,” slammed the party paper 'Murasoli' in a hard hitting editorial. The paper had three other pieces ridiculing the event as a 'saffron sangamam'.
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It further asked the BJP to prove its concern for Tamil by announcing 'Thirukural' as the 'National Book', making Tamil as the language of Madras High Court, according Tamil and the official languages of other states as official languages of the Union, holding examinations for Union Government services in all these languages and making Tamil medium of instruction from Kendriya Vidyalayas to IITs.
Recalling the life of poet Subramania Bharathi and rationalist leader 'Periyar' EV Ramasamy, the editorial said, “He returned from Kasi as a radical. There, he used to mingle with people irrespective of caste and even had a haircut to be modern. Periyar who had been there, too returned as a rationalist. But, the parivar remains the same even after 120 years.”
t remains to be seen whether the saffron party's venture into a domain strongly held by the DMK will yield results. If it is a long-term project, the DMK would have to be prepared for a long-drawn duel.
