Two valiant brothers known as Marudhu Sahaodaras, who were ruling the region of Sivagangai, gave ‘Jambudwip Prakatanam’ on June 16, 1801, from the ramparts of the ancient Srirangam Temple near Trichy to declare that they would not bend their knees to the British. Another historic proclamation was made by Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai from the same place that he and his party would not bend their knees to a British stooge (referring to DMK founder EV Ramasamy Naicker who is known to have sowed the seeds of anti-Hindu, divisive Dravidian politics). Annamalai was in Srirangam as part of the ongoing ‘en mann, en makkal’ (My Land, My people) padayatra which seeks a decisive mandate for the Modi Government at the Centre for a third term. The padayatra has so far covered nearly 120 Assembly constituencies (out of the total 234).
Setting a New Narrative
The central BJP leadership made it amply clear that an overhaul of the rot in the State is imminent. Inaugurating padayatra on July 28 on the holy sands of Rameswaram, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “The yatra is not just a political yatra. It’s a yatra to take the Tamil culture all across the country. It is to improve law and order in the State. It is to mark the beginning of development in Tamil Nadu.”
Later, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goel participated at the start of the pivotal stage of the yatra in Avinashi, from where the yatra set out to course through four Kongu districts which are seen as a BJP stronghold. Earlier, Prakash Javadekar said that the yatra wiil set a “new narrative” in the State discourse, which it does diligently.
Removal of Anti-Devotees Plaque
Below the EVR statue, right in front of the hoary Ranganatha (Vishnu) temple in Srirangam is a plaque with wordings which denigrate devotees. Annamalai asserted that it will be removed from the temple vicinity once the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power in the State. This is not a tall claim.
“The biggies DMK and AIADMK and their unwritten monopoly over power in the State has now been challenged. Even ten days after Annamalai’s visit to Srirangam (central Tamil Nadu), the spirit of expectation among townsmen has not dwindled even a bit in spite of a Diwali wave plus World Cup brouhaha coming in between”, emphasises Bharatanatyam danseuse Priya Ramkumar, a Srirangam resident. “Annamalai gives expression to what people want to demand but could not. That is why the padayatra receives an increasingly enthusiastic response. Tamils want an end to their suffering under the 29-month old anti-North, anti-Sanatan apparatus in the State”, she explains.
Priya Ramkumar’s sentiments are echoed by many NRIs. “All NRI Hindus from Tamil Nadu are looking forward to a Hindu resurgence over there”, said S Venkata Subramanian, a CFO from Houston, USA, while speaking to Organiser.
S Swaminathan, formerly with BBC, observes: “En Man En Makkal Yatra has kindled nationalist spirit among Tamil youths. Tamil Nadu newspapers are forced to cover the Yatra news because of the huge support he receives. Even a Londoner like me sees it and reads it every day”.
From across the Indian Ocean, Deepak, a Sindhi restaurateur, insists, “Other States in Bharat too should have their own Annamalais soon. The splendid ongoing mobilisation in Tamil Nadu impels me to say so”. A former computer engineer of Djakarta (Indonesia), he runs his café in Bali.
PM Words Turned Prophetic
The Tamil voters elected the DMK to power, much to their own detriment. During the two years of the MK Stalin regime, things happened in the State precisely as Modi foresaw earlier. Here, advocate Era Meyyappan, who conducted tours under the banner Bharat Darshan, recalls, “In a rally at Coimbatore during the 2021 Assembly election campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, ‘Under DMK’s rule, rowdies would rule the streets and women cannot feel safe’ (rediff.com report)”.
According to the latest report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), among the 39 States in the country, Tamil Nadu has the sixth-highest crime rate, with 85.8 crimes per one lakh people, Editor S Gurumurthy pointed out in his Tamil weekly Thuglak. A growing list of POSCO offences by DMK men is glaring.
But one finds the DMK regime very much ‘concerned’ about law and order when it comes to granting permission for the disciplined annual RSS Vijayadasami route march (Patha Sanchalan). The Madras High Court overruled the State Police objection; State Government went in appeal to the Supreme Court only to be snubbed by an SC decision of November 6; a bench of justices Surya Kant and Dipankar Dutta directed the RSS to submit its proposed route to the state government. North Tamil Nadu Prant Sanghchalak of RSS Dr K Kumaraswamy told journalists on November 8 that November 19 has been agreed upon by Sangh and the State Government as the Patha Sanchalan date.
The en mann, en makkal Padayatra has given fresh hope to all the stakeholders in the rejuvenation of the State’s economy, feels Jambunaathan, an ex-banker. “Before he walks into a constituency, Annamalai arms himself with adequate home work; highlights in his address the local issues afflicting the agriculture/ traditional local crafts / small or medium industries. He offers them viable solutions. Or gives new life to handicrafts through the Viswakarma scheme. Participating in the Padayatra at Theni-Bodi, not a stronghold of BJP, I found the people thronging voluntarily as they see sincerity in his eyes and words “, he elaborates.
Entrapreuner Mahalakshmi Balasubramanaiam is happy to note that the padayatra debunks the “number one State” propaganda by the State apparatus, as Annamalai exposes, in rally after rally along the yatra, the all-round downslide caused by inefficiency, corruption and parivarvad. This helps prevent branding of his novel endeavour as “merely political”, according to her.
DMK leaders, including the Assembly Speaker Appavu, keep on parroting that this regime is a ‘pichchai’ (alms) given by Christians. Even Jihadi attacks (like the LPG cylider bomb blast in Coimbatore) are sought to be poopoohed by a committed police force. This soft approach of DMK regime to reach out to its vote bank population has only to be contrasted with the way the ruling party keeps on vilifying Hindu religion, customs and scriptures. The self-avowed nastik Chief Minister Stalin never greets people on the occasion of Deepavali, for example. Hindus are naturally ofended.
That is why today Tamil youths are solidly behind Annamalai, as he voices Hindu interests like none else. The latest poll ‘Whom Tamil Youth Follows’ by the popular Tamil weekly Kumudam reveals that Annamalai tops the list with 34 per cent, while Udayanidhi Stalin of ‘Eradicate Sanatan’ fame scores 31 per cent and the separatist loudmouth Seeman of Naam Tamilar Party comes third with 30 per cent.
“This yatra is “not just a political yatra” it is a yatra to take the Tamil language across the world. It’s a yatra to take the Tamil culture across the country. The yatra is being done with the aim of freeing Tamil Nadu from dynasty politics and corruption. It is to improve law and order in the state. It is to mark the beginning of development in Tamil Nadu ”-Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
NC Bipindra, Editor of Defence Capital and Political Capital (magazines published from Delhi) adds this significant dimension to the developments in Tamil Nadu. “From the national security perspective, Tamil Nadu is an important state. The dominant political power there has separatist overtones and is ideologically anti-Centre. As a result, the state has become an experiment lab for anti-India forces, including for Chinese operatives and others. Against this backdrop, Annamalai, who is self-made and not a dynast, inspires youth. He is getting traction from the aspirational youth of Tamil Nadu in particular. Naturally his padayatra draws huge crowds. Annamalai is dictating the political debate in the state already. That’s advantage BJP. So his party should try to convert this groundswell into votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and onwards as well. That’s is the only challenge.”
Culturally, Tamil Nadu was just waiting for a decisive turn towards maistream integration. That entails the need for a vigilant society. “Tough opposition by Hindus led by the Hindu Munnani for over four decades has resulted in increasing awareness about denial of rights to Hindus. As a result, any attack on the society including Love Jihad and fraudulant conversion faces sharp reaction from Tamil Hindus”, observes G Bhaktavatsalam, organiser of Hindu Munnani for southern states. He cites as an example, how in mid-October 25,000 Chennimalai (Erode) people sponteneously rallied to protest against a Christian outfit that tried to rename the holy hill temple area of Lord Murugan as ’Yesayya malai’.
The attempt by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department of the secular Government to intrude into the religious tradition of Hindu temples is brazen. That explains why Annamalai says, “Day one of BJP in power in Tamil Nadu will be the last day of HR&CE”, by way of reassuring distraught Tamils.
DMK assumed office in May 2021. In June that year, the patriotic slogan Jai Hind was absent at the end of the text of the regular address by Governor to the State Assembly. The absence of Jai Hind was described as “Tamil assertion” by MLA Rajendran, an ally of the ruling party, on the floor of the Asembly. Governor RN Ravi promptly uttered Jai Hind at the end of his 2022 address to the Assembly indicating that separatism will not be tolerated. Irritated DMK functionaries, including ministers, stooped to vilifying the Governor. It peaked on October 25, when a petrol bomb was thrown near Chennai Raj Bhavan entrance. State Government’s opposition to Central authority persists and it reeks of the pre 370 Jammu-Kashmir syndrome. The ongoing Padayatra is in fact a task to rekindle nationalism in the land of Alwars and Nayanmars that Tamil Nadu is.
