BJP tried similar strategy in 2016

Political experts citing the past track record say that caste politics alone would not help the saffron party in building a strong vote bank. The BJP is not a force to reckon with in Tamil Nadu. Even during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Modi wave that swept the country did not produce results in the state. Though the victory of Pon Radhakrishnan from Kanniyakumari was a consolation, the same also offered a ray of hope for the national party that it could set its foot in this southern state.

Encouraged by the triumph in Kumari the top brass of the BJP devised plans to strengthen its base in south. National president Amit Shah made a direct entry into the scene aimed at boosting the charts of the party in the southern districts by finding new friends among the OBCs and Dalits.

The entry of Shah proved to be a morale-booster for the party functionaries and cadre who enthusiastically brought the representatives of different castes to the talks table.

As planned Amit Shah visited Madurai, on August 6, 2015 and announced the grand alliance, which was architected by RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy .

Though, it was believed that the BJP with the help of the Dalit-OBC coalition would grab a substantial number of votes in southern districts and emerge as a big force in the 2016 Assembly election, the results proved otherwise sending out a message that Tamil Nadu was not a ground for caste politics.

Despite the failure, the BJP seems to be planning to employ the same strategy again for the 2019 Parliamentary election. But political experts opine that the party might end up meeting the same fate as in 2016.

Speaking to DT Next, Badri Seshadri, political analyst, said that be it Tamil Nadu or Uttar Pradesh caste plays an important part in the election, but caste alone cannot give the required vote share to win a poll.

Every community in Tamil Nadu has affiliation to a party and if BJP wants to win their votes they should instill a sense of confidence among the community members that the party would work for their upliftment and protect them during adverse times, said Badri.

BJP state general secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan, said that there were various wings within the BJP such as SC wing, ST wing, a wing for OBCs and so on. By conducting a meeting for a particular community does not mean that BJP was trying to woo the community just for votes.

“It is to send out the message that the party as a whole is working for the members of the community and to attract new members for the party,” she explained.

Vanathi also said that it was not a complete failure in 2015 when the party tried to stitch the Dalit-OBC alliance. It was an effort to consolidate votes, which was also one of the many techniques adopted by the party for success.