“You can never ever in your entire life, rule over the people of Tamil Nadu”. This was a challenge thrown by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, at the BJP, in the Lok Sabha two years ago. Back then, the BJP was a fringe player in Tamil Nadu politics with a vote share of less than 3%.
However now with opinion polls predicting an increase in vote share between 8 and 18%, Mr Modi is clearly sensing an opportunity to probably replicate what it did in West Bengal. In the last ten years, in almost all national and international forums, Mr Modi has been quoting a lot from the verses of poets Subramania Bharathi and Thiruvalluvar.
In recent times, he has been trying to build a connect between the people of Tamil Nadu and north by launching the Kashi Tamil Sangamam in his Varanasi constituency and the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam in his home State Gujarat. Last week, at a public meeting in Palladam, he reminded the audience that he had installed the holy Sengol in the new Parliament building.
Modi has now praised former Chief Ministers MGR and Jayalalithaa.
We look at the BJP’s contradictory stands on Jayalalithaa and corruption, the mixed signals within the BJP, comparisons with the Assembly elections in 1989, and more.
Presentation: D. Suresh Kumar
Video: Thamodharan B
Production: Shibu Narayan
