In the dark cesspool politics that TN finds itself in today,
there is a ray of hope that is emerging. His name is Annamalai. The BJP in a
masterstroke appointed Annamalai as its state president in the 2nd half of
2021. Since then, Annamalai has been giving the ruling DMK nightmares on a
daily basis.
An ex IPS officer, Annamalai is honest, upright, articulate
and fluent in English - everything that DMK politicians are not. His
communication in Tamil, his mother tongue is superb. Apparently, he is working
to pick up Hindi as well
Annamalai regularly holds press meets in which he picks up
bad policy and administrative decisions of the DMK and tears into the
administration. He does his homework thoroughly (another trait which is new to
TN politics) and comes fully prepared to field questions from the media, the
majority of whom are DMK stooges. A hallmark of Annamalai's interactions with
the media is how he rattles off stats and figures backing his claims.
On multiple occasions in the past few months, the DMK
government has had to back down on their decisions owing to immense pressure
from him. It seems to me as if for the first time in TN, the people of the
state are waking up to the realization that there is an alternative to the
so-called Dravidian ideology that both DMK and AIADMK have been following and
propagating in the state for close to 55-60 years (after the Congress ceased to
be a power in the state).
We need to keep in mind that the AIADMK is the principal
opposition party in TN. So in a way, Annamalai's offensive is not only a cause
of concern as far as the DMK is concerned, it is also a slap in the face of the
AIADMK. He has taken the wind out of the sails of the principal opposition
party. Of course, there is not much difference ideologically between the DMK
and the AIADMK, which would explain why the AIADMK has no locus standi to
oppose the DMK on its politically motivated administrative decisions
Annamalai is very closely aligned with Modi's long-term plan
for Tamil Nadu. We have been seeing how the PM has been relentlessly focussing
on TN; right from his decision to host China's Xi in Mahabalipuram, his
infrastructure investments in TN, his strategic quotes of Tamil poems both at
home and abroad, decisions of the Railways to modernize railway stations in key
TN cities, Modi has been TN centric both subtly and in an open way.
So, it is clear that the central BJP leadership is going all
out to win the confidence of the Tamil people. And it has begun to show results
as can be seen from the local body elections in Chennai and in the 2021
Assembly elections where BJP got a significant 8% vote share.
Annamalai is confident of winning 15 Lok Sabha seats in the
2024 general elections and capturing power in the 2026 Assembly elections in
Tamil Nadu. I think that is definitely on.
