BJP’s divisive tactic not able to crumble the Dravidian fort

The saffron brigade’s attempt to make inroads into the state were stonewalled, courtesy the Dravidian parties or Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) and his long dead Justice Party colleagues, who had jointly weaved such a strong rationalist and self-respect fabric in the society that the BJP here has been unable to make the same OBCs and Dalits they had comfortably won in UP take the bait here. That the Dravidian offshoots were an irritant to BJP could be comprehended from the most recent statements of state party president Tamizhisai Soundararajan and union minister Pon Radhakrishnan that they would rid the state of the same Dravidian parties they had forged alliance with difficulty in the recent decades. 

Attributing their failure to TN people’s strong belief in social justice and rationalism, vice president of Dravidar Kazhagam Kali Poongundran argues, “This is a state where the Dravidian parties increased their Assembly tally from 138 to 181 seats in an election they had faced after successfully propagating their atheist principles. Whether it is religion or caste, people here have always disregarded divisive politics. When thousands died post Babri Masjid demolition, TN was peaceful. Even the minor political advantage BJP had tasted after 1998 Coimbatore blast was a one-off incident. BJP had failed to win a single MLA seat in the same Kanniyakumari LS segment held now by Pon Radhakrishnan. Regional parties here fear that by merely associating with BJP they would lose minority votes. They tried jallikattu but their attempts boomeranged. The more the BJP applies divisive politics, the larger will be the rush towards Periyarism.” 

“The sources of discontent (BJP capitalises against the Congress) across the country are not the same as the sources of discontent (against Dravidian parties) in Tamil Nadu. Indeed, Dravidian parties face crises in terms of resource exploitation and agriculture, but the big question is can BJP capitalise the discontent against Dravidian parties? The BJP has been aspiring, for quite sometime, to capitalise on the frustration faced by Dravidian parties, but, they face difficulty. Dravidian parties are prevented from allying with BJP,” reasoned professor A Kalaiarasan of Institute for Studies in Industrial Development, New Delhi.