BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu appear to be zealously working to spot issues that could be woven into their Hindutva narrative. They have come a long way from the time the old guard would only sell the BJP “as a party with a difference and shorn of lumpen elements” and be reluctant to declare its pro-Hindu agenda. Back then, State politics was dominated by Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi.
The present crop of leaders is losing no opportunity to posture itself as a guardian of the Hindus, whose interests, it claims, are being compromised by the ruling DMK. Presently it has latched on to the death by suicide of a Class 12 girl, who was studying in a Christian missionary-run institution as a resident inmate in Thanjavur district. Though the police arrested a sexagenarian warden under the Juvenile Justice Act, as the girl alleged she was forced to do chores in the hostel, the issue took a political turn when a 45-second video clip surfaced. In the clip, the girl is heard saying that “two years ago”, her parents were asked if they would convert her to Christianity. A male voice is heard asking “so because you did not convert, they troubled you?” To this she responds, “could be”.
