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Despite the searing heat on Friday April 19, the turnout at the polling booths across the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu was a decent 69.4%. During the 2019 elections it had been marginally higher at 72.47%.
As in the past, the turnout was lower in Chennai as compared to the other places in the State. Chennai North had a turnout of 60.13% while Chennai South had a 54.27% turnout.
Chennai Central recorded 53.91%, which was the lowest in the State. The turnout in all three constituencies was higher in 2019.
However, among the 39 constituencies in the State, 23 had more than 70% turn out. Dharmapuri topped the list with 81.48%, followed by Kallakurichi 79.25% and Karur 78.61%. Polling in Coimbatore, where the BJP State President K.Annamalai is contesting, was low at 64%.
Barring minor skirmishes and EVM glitches in some places, polling was smooth throughout the State.
If there is a State in India which is truly an ideological challenge to the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) it is Tamil Nadu. Barring a tiny minority of hard core BJP supporters, the others in the State predict 37 or 38 out of 39 seats for the DMK-Congress alliance.
The BJP is expected to get nil and the AIADMK just one or two in the three-cornered contest.
Tall claims are being made by the BJP and its mouthpieces in the national media about the party increasing its vote share from 3% to 12 or 15%, even if it does not bag any seat. It is also said that the BJP is looking beyond the 2024 elections into the future when it hopes to replace the AIADMK as the second largest party in the state.
But both hopes are a tall order, given the political history and the culture of the State, which are very different from the history and culture of North Indian States or even the other South Indian States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala for that matter.
Tamil Nadu has a unique linguistic, cultural and political identity. Its language, Tamil, is unique, in as much as, it has the least number of Sanskrit words. Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have a much greater admixture of Sanskrit.
Tamil Hinduism is different from the Hinduism practised in other parts of India. It has a distinct religious literature in which the language used is not Sanskrit but Tamil.
The most popular God in Tamil Nadu is Murugan. Murugan or his Sanskritised avatar, Karthikeya, is not a well-known deity in the North Indian Hindu pantheon. Rama and Krishna are not as important as Murugan or Siva in Tamil Nadu.
Caste divisions in Tamil Hindu are different from those in the North. The four-fold division in the Sanskritised Hindu society of the North comprises the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and the Shudras. Such a system does not exist in Tamil Nadu, where Hindu society is divided into Brahmins, Non-Brahmins and Dalits. There are no Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
The Dravidian movement to which the Dravida Kazhagam and its offshoots the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) belong, stands for a casteless society. The ideal is Samathuvam (equality) and not Sanatana Dharma which the Tamils associate with the caste order or Varnashrama Dharma.
The DMK and AIADMK have been pioneers of the social justice movement in South India which has been fighting against caste.
These parties pioneered the policy of giving reservation for backward castes in government jobs and educational institutions. 69 % of government jobs and seats in educational institutions are reserved for the Backward Castes in Tamil Nadu apart from reservation for Dalits.
The Dravidian movement led by E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker began as an anti-Brahmin, anti-North, anti-Sanskrit, anti-Hindu and anti-caste movement. But its virulence subsided markedly over the years.
However, whenever there is a perception of North Indian domination, as is the case under the present BJP government, the contrasting ideals of the Dravidian movement come to the fore.
The controversy over Sanatana Dharma raised by a DMK Minister represents opposition to the kind of militant Hindutva, which Modi’s BJP is now trying to foist on Tamil Nadu and India.
The Dravidian movement is also explicitly secular and believes in embracing all religious communities. The movement has no antagonism towards Muslims, as Muslims came to Tamil Nadu as peaceful traders and not as conquerors.
Christian missions are appreciated as they had helped marginalised communities like fishermen, Nadars, Thevars and Dalits to acquire an education.
The attitude to the minorities in Tamil Nadu is in sharp contrast to the North where Muslims and Christians are seen as aliens owing allegiance to a foreign land.
While there are Hindu-Muslim conflicts in some areas of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh because of the presence of a large number of Muslims (or Christians), there are virtually no communal conflicts in Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the BJP, which believes in building itself up by exploiting communal feelings, has no scope in Tamil Nadu.
This does not mean that a non-Tamil party based in North India cannot find a foothold in Tamil Nadu. But that party has to be secular and a votary of social justice and communal equality. The Congress party of Nehru and Indira Gandhi met this requirement and therefore the Congress has been having a consistent 20% vote share in Tamil Nadu.
On the contrary, the BJP is seen as a party which is trying to impose Hindi and Hindu cultural values peculiar to the North. An overwhelming majority of Tamils are Hindus and very religious in their personal life. But they detest the imposition of Hinduism or Hindu values on others.
The BJP does have its supporters in Tamil Nadu but these are mostly Brahmins, who are only 2% of the population. Brahmins have a strong presence in Tamil Nadu media, but they are not active in ground level politics.
The BJP’s other supporters are those who seek a place in the power structure at the Centre. Some of these are businessmen and politicians who hope to be co-opted by the powers-that-be in New Delhi. This group also includes the corrupt who fear raids by the Central agencies.
In the April 19 elections in Tamil Nadu, the main issue was whether the extremist Narendra Modi should continue to be Prime Minister, or he should be replaced by a more moderate leader. In Tamil Nadu the election is not Modi Vs Rahul Gandhi. It is Modi Vs the Tamils.
There is much hype about the BJP’s State President K. Annamalai. He is hardworking and aggressive and has sewed up an alliance with the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) after the AIADMK walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
But the PMK is a single caste-based party with some influence only in North Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, it has no worthwhile goal as on date. Its caste-related demands had already been met by previous Tamil Nadu governments.
Annamalai is a candidate in Coimbatore, but he is not expected to win. So long as Annamalai and the BJP do not recognise the unique cultural, social and political psyche of the Tamils and adjust their policies suitably, the BJP cannot make headway in Tamil Nadu either now or in the foreseeable future.
Cover Photograph- BJP candidate ‘Singham’ Annamalai from Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency.
