If only statues could win votes…

For decades, the BJP has been toiling hard to secure a foothold in Tamil Nadu, the home of the great Periyar and stalwarts and proponents of Tamil pride like CN Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi. They roped in a former IPS officer and made him the state party president, hoping that this would be the beginning of a surge for the saffronists in a state where despite pouring in enormous resources, they have failed to win a single seat in the 234-member state Assembly.

Or even one of the 39 coveted Lok Sabha seats. Even the Kerala BJP had some cheer coming their way with a popular actor winning a Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 poll. With the ex-cop now out of his seat and even the BJP’s alliance partner, the AIADMK, sending out mixed signals on sharing power with the saffronists if at all it wins the next Assembly election in 2026, the scene looks as grim as ever for the BJP.

Which could be the reason why the party and the PM seem to have adopted a new strategy to woo Tamilians by focusing on the two pillars of their electoral strategy elsewhere - religion and history. So on Sunday, PM Modi announced the construction of grand statues of iconic Chola emperors, Rajaraja Chola and his son, Rajendra Chola I, in Tamil Nadu.

He made the remarks at the Aadi Thiruvathirai festival to mark 1,000 years of Rajendra Chola’s legendary maritime expedi tion to South East Asia and the commencement of the construction of the Gangaikonda Chola puram temple. He even released a commemorative coin honouring Rajendra Chola-I. The Tamilian no doubt, is deeply religious and also reveres his history, with the Chola period said to be among the golden eras of India.

But then, as the BJP’s experts know quite well, they are also strictly secular and democratic when it comes to political choices and are known to reject any movement or campaign which is otherwise, or hurts Tamil pride in anyway. And if there is an apt example of a people keeping religion and politics apart while decid ing on their popular choices, it could well be the Tamilians.

This is also the reason why the BJP’s at tempts to harp on religious issues, glorify historical figures and try to carve a niche in the hearts of the Tamil population, are unlikely to succeed. They also seem to be forgetting the fact that this is a state where Periyar promoted the principles of rationalism, self-respect and eradication of caste.

And if the two Dravidian parties, the DMK and AIADMK have managed to build up strong bases of their own over half a century, it is not because of harping endlessly on religious or historical is sues but because of taking up struggles for eco nomic rights and people’s needs. While the Tamilian may no doubt be happy over the move to honour two of their great kings with statues, it is unlikely to benefit the BJP in electoral terms.

For this, they need their leaders to espouse popular causes and economic issues which are closer to the hearts of the people. Till then, they can only hope to tag along with the AIADMK and hope to secure some electoral benefit as a result.