In Tamil Nadu, BJP hopes to blunt criticism, break '2-party' poll system

For nearly five decades now, Tamil Nadu (TN) politics has been a contest between the two Dravidian parties, the DMK and AIADMK. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hopes to disrupt this with its multi-party rainbow coalition for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
 

If the BJP has set out to transition Tamil Nadu from a bipolar to a triangular contest, the Naam Tamizhar Katchi — a nascent Tamil nationalist outfit with a growing following among the youth in the state’s southern part — has ambitions to make it into a four-cornered battle in the state’s 39 seats, which will vote on Friday.
 

The MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), along with its allies, such as the Left parties and the Congress, has set the target of bettering its 2019 performance by winning all 39 seats, including the lone Puducherry constituency. In 2019, the alliance won 38 of Tamil Nadu’s 39 seats, with the AIADMK winning one. The DMK-led alliance also won Puducherry. The BJP was a constituent of the AIADMK-led alliance five years back, as also in the 2021 TN Assembly polls.
 

According to political commentator Amitabh Tiwari, the BJP is aiming to take the number two spot in the state from the AIADMK and "subsume" its votes. Earlier, BJP's strategy allowed the regional parties in the state to accuse it of being anti-Tamil. But this time, the party has changed tack to blunt the critique that it was a “Hindi and Hindutva” party.
 

Over the last couple of years, the BJP has organised Tamil Sangamams in Varanasi and Gujarat, and the PM has visited the state seven times since February, and did so in the run up to the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in January. The BJP manifesto, released on Sunday, spoke of setting up Thiruvalluvar centres across the world and work to enhance the global reputation of Tamil.
 

Tiwari said that the BJP is trying to fill the leadership vacuum, which it believes exists in Tamil politics after the deaths of former chief ministers, MK Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, with Modi at the Centre and 39-year-old IPS-turned-politician K Annamalai as its leader in the state. The BJP’s social engineering in TN has centred on shaping a coalition of parties with influence among various communities, such as the Pattali Makkal Katchi, while AIADMK rebels T T V Dhinakaran and O Panneerselvam are also part of the alliance. BJP’s state unit chief and its Coimabatore candidate Annamalai hails from the OBC Gounder caste.
 

The ruling DMK, and Chief Minister M K Stalin, one of the principal backers of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), has flagged federalism and equal fiscal rights for states as the leitmotifs of the alliance’s election campaign even as it faces anti-incumbency. The AIADMK has not only distanced itself from the BJP but is hard at work to ensure that it is seen to be in the fight even though it lost allies, such as the PMK, to the BJP.
 

The three players have also an eye on the 2026 Assembly polls, which could see a new entrant with actor Vijay’s Tamizhaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) debuting in electoral politics. For now, according to a Chennai-based political scientist, the BJP making inroads into TN would be a red signal for the DMK. “Ironically, it is the AIADMK, more than the DMK, that can really stop the BJP’s march into the state. It is possible that the AIADMK might underperform, but it has the wherewithal to emerge stronger in 2026,” the academic said.

The BJP, meanwhile, is hopeful of doing well at least on a handful of seats, such as Coimabatore, Tiruppur and Nilgiris and increasing its vote share.