Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'BJP wooing the Tamilians' that was published in Newsband

BJP wooing the Tamilians

The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to extend its sphere of influence to States outside of the Hindi heartland. The slogan ‘BJP 44-plus in Jammu and Kashmir’ indicated the simple majority needed to form a government in that State. In Tamil Nadu, the slogan, ‘BJP 122-plus’, hints at the numbers the BJP would need to form a government of its own in Tamil Nadu. The 60 lakh membership for the BJP, will give the BJP an edge to lead a political alternative to both the DMK and the AIADMK in the State in the run-up to the 2016 Assembly elections,

Former Union Minister and a film actor until some years ago, D. Napoleon, quit the DMK to join the BJP and this has given a boost to the chances of BJP winning the elections in Tamil Nadu. BJP has a good chance of putting up a good show in Tamil Nadu. The people of Tamil Nadu had been brain washed over a long period by the Dravidian parties. But now they are waking up to the reality.  

The problem for BJP is that it doesn’t have any credible face who has mixed and worked with people. In TN both the Dravidian leaders have worked with the masses - and enchanted them with freebies - one party for entertainment and the other for furthering the living style. The people of Tamil Nadu always want a stable and able administration. But the present CM is unable to cope up with the pressure of administration and things are slowly turning for worse. This is an advantage for BJP.

If BJP has the determination, and moreover, if it is positive and not merely for competitive purpose, it can easily form government in Tamil Nadu. At the end, people from Tamil Nadu are also Indians, having some common past, common ideology against corruption and some common aspirations. BJP needs to understand this thing. If Tamil people observe the practicality of 'ache din' in India, they will try to get the same for themselves too. BJP needs to give this proof of 'ache din' in India before the Tamil Nadu elections.

In Tamil Nadu, national level political parties like Congress or BJP never got there without any alliance of DMK or AIADMK. The recent conviction of Jayalalitha and Modi's development agenda along with his popularity will add tot he advantage of Amit Shah who is trying to dent into Tamil Nadu with a big bang.

Ambitious BJP is expanding its base is a welcome step especially in South. For the first time the party is ruling the country and a natural tilt towards it by people is common. Added to this people could not find an alternative for them and the party President is cashing in on the situation. To keep the trend going and also to keep the Modi-Shah strategic win to continue Team Modi should start functioning instead of creating controversies day in and day out. They have a lesson to learn from Karnataka the first southern State that voted the party to power but failed to retain it.