Part 1 of this series can be accessed here. This is Part 2.

M K Stalin, president of the DMK, deserves “Three Cheers” for charting out the standard operations procedure for demolishing the AIADMK-led National Democratic Alliance in Tamil Nadu. The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) led by the DMK was one of the few rejuvenating experiences the Congress could look back with glee while the 2019 General Election results are analysed and studied.

Team PGurus had mentioned the trade secret of the DMK with which it literally obliterated the AIADMK and the BJP in the State. They built a narrative that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was anti-Tamil and all his policies were with an eye to destroy the Tamil people. “We were able to sustain the anti-Modi campaign throughout the last few years and in every nook and corner of the State,” R S Bharati, the organising secretary of the DMK had told immediately after the election results were announced. This sustained campaign helped the DMK-led front to register winning margins of more than two lakhs in 23 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

Five years after the speech by Shah, the truth is that Tamil Nadu BJP has not been able to enlist at least ten workers per polling station!

Karti Chidambaram, the controversial son of former minister P Chidambaram who had forfeited his security deposit in the 2014 Lok Sabha election won this time by defeating H Raja of the BJP by more than 2 lakh votes. Dayanidhi Maran, an accused in the illegal telephone exchange case too won by a margin of more than 2.5 lakh votes from one of the constituencies in Chennai.

The DMK’s campaign centred on the approval given by the Narendra Modi government to corporates to launch hydrocarbon explorations in various parts of Tamil Nadu and also against the decision of the NDA government to implement the NEET system for admission to undergraduate and postgraduate medical colleges all over India.

BJP has a messaging problem

It was the Karunanidhi–led DMK government which had signed the agreement with the then UPA government at the Centre led by Manmohan Singh allocating the fertile Cauvery Delta region for hydrocarbon exploration. It was the Manmohan Singh–led government that got a court verdict in favour of NEET and the DMK was the most important partner of that ruling dispensation from 2004 to 2013. These truths were kept as a secret by the DMK and the media sponsored by it. The BJP failed miserably to counter the narration unleashed by the fringe-Tamil nationalist elements.

The Tamil Nadu BJP leadership is divided into two. One is pro-DMK group and the other one is pro-AIADMK. “There are no pro-BJP leaders in Tamil Nadu BJP,” said a senior party activist.

“One has been seeing the same faces in the State BJP’s leadership. Though these leaders have proved time and again that they are incapable of leading the party to victory, they continue to nestle in the comforts of Kamalalayam, the BJP headquarters,” said Kavi Kannan, a farmer leader and author of the book Cauvery, the Most Battled River. He said he would soon come out with details of how the Tamil Nadu BJP leaders cold-shouldered him when he approached them with requests for getting the presence of a union minister for the release of the book.

A stock taking has thrown out some interesting results. “The Tamil Nadu BJP leaders are vying with one another in proving their inefficiency, incapability and ignorance about National and State issues. All these leaders are aspiring to get posted as directors of public sector undertakings or other government agencies. Some are even dreaming of getting nominated to the Rajya Sabha to corner a ministership. They are not capable of winning even a Panchayat election,” said a senior BJP leader in the State who prefers to watch the tamasha from the sidelines.

The BJP-led NDA had won 18 per cent votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The BJP and the PMK won one seat each though the others in the front drew a blank. But by 2016, the NDA’s vote share plummeted to 2.8 per cent with most of the candidates fielded by the party, including the state chief Tamilisai Sounderarajan forfeiting her deposit. An office-bearer by name Chakravarthy, who literally used to walk like an emperor could poll less than 5000 votes from a Thiruvallur constituency.

But there was no dearth of mutual allegations and name calling by the leaders and their acolytes. While addressing a public meeting at Chennai in August 2014, Amit Shah, party chief had exhorted the State leadership to enrol 60,00,000 (60 Lakhs) members in the State. “There are 60,000 polling stations in Tamil Nadu. You should have at least 100 active workers to man each of these polling stations,” Shah had told the party leaders. Five years after the speech by Shah, the truth is that Tamil Nadu BJP has not been able to enlist at least ten workers per polling station!

Tamilisai Sounderrajan has proved her incapability in leading an outfit like the BJP. There is another gentleman by the name P Muralidhar Rao, who has been imported from Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu. “Why this man is hanging around Chennai under the label of secretary in charge of Tamil Nadu is a mystery. Most of the time he would be closeted in his executive suite in a five-star hotel in Cathedral Road and claims to be presiding over brainstorm sessions. The sessions last till the wee hours of the day and that could be the main reason for the downfall of the BJP,” said the senior leader.

More than 300 Hindu activists have been murdered by Islamic terrorists over the last two decades in Tamil Nadu with the active connivance of the DMK/ AIADMK governments and the Police.

“Tamil Nadu BJP needs a thorough overhaul and there is no point in blaming the fringe elements and anti-social activists for the failure of the BJP leaders,” said Kannan. He pointed out how the fortunes of the BJP turned for the better in Tripura when the central leadership deputed a seasoned activist like Sunil Deodhar to lead the party there. “We need a person like Deodhar or Ram Madhav to resurrect the BJP on Tamil Nadu,” he pointed out.

The evangelists, Church, NGOs, Maoists and Dravidians would only work for demolishing the growth of the Hindutva forces in Tamil Nadu. The DMK does not like the BJP or the RSS. The Central leadership should order a thorough probe into the reasons behind the stagnation of Hindutva forces in the State.

The failure is entirely on the side of the Hindutva forces, says Aravindan Neelakandan, who co-authored BREAKING INDIA with Rajiv Malhotra. “They have a charismatic leader in Arjun Sampath but the BJP leaders see him more as a threat to themselves than as the needed alternative. On the other hand, day in and day out, they wait for their messiah in the matinee idol Rajnikanth, who had treated the Tamil Nadu BJP in particular, and Hindutva in general, with a kind of aversion. He never opened his mouth on issues like the insult of Andal. His recent movies like Kala have shown deep revulsion for Hinduism. Every time the local BJP leaders had spoken highly of him, he had snubbed them in public,” Neelakandan wrote while analysing the results of the 2019 election in Tamil Nadu.

“Destroy Sanatana Dharma. It is more dangerous than the threats from Pakistan and China,” declared M K Stalin while addressing the anti-Sanatana Dharma conference organised by VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan at Tiruchirappalli in March 2019.

The BJP alone is responsible for the state of affairs in Tamil Nadu. More than 300 Hindu activists have been murdered by Islamic terrorists over the last two decades in Tamil Nadu with the active connivance of the DMK/ AIADMK governments and the Police. The Sangh Parivar has failed miserably in ensuring the safety of its workers. Leaders continue to move around in chauffeur-driven limousines and SUVs. But the woes of the party workers continue unabated. How is BJP going to win elections in a State like Tamil Nadu?