Madurai is the nerve centre of Tamil Nadu politics; people have decided to unseat DMK from power: Rama Srinivasan, BJP contestant
Rama Srinivasan, the BJP contestant, expressed confidence of winning in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly 2026 elections from Madurai (South) constituency. Speaking with Kunti Surender, Bureau Chief, South for Organiser, he expressed his views on Madurai (South), a key constituency that has been in the news for the last two years with the Murugan Conference and anti-Thirupparankundram agitations in response to the DMK government’s minority appeasement and intimidatory politics when the sacred hill belonging to Bhagwan Murugan was declared as Waqf Board property. During this election campaign, he said that the public in Tamil Nadu has decided that they do not want DMK.
Rama Srinivasan, the BJP contestant, expressed confidence of winning in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly 2026 elections from Madurai (South) constituency. Speaking with Kunti Surender, Bureau Chief, South for Organiser, he expressed his views on Madurai (South), a key constituency that has been in the news for the last two years with the Murugan Conference and anti-Thirupparankundram agitations in response to the DMK government’s minority appeasement and intimidatory politics when the sacred hill belonging to Bhagwan Murugan was declared as Waqf Board property. During this election campaign, he said that the public in Tamil Nadu has decided that they do not want DMK.
Here are the excerpts from the interview:
How is your election campaign going on?
Rama Srinivasan: Excellent! Just now you visited and witnessed our election campaign. It has been a spirited, targeted campaign because the state-level narrative of this election is anti-DMK, and the constituency is also anti-DMK. So, the political mood of the people in Tamil Nadu today is that they do not want DMK.
Historically, Madurai has a significant place in the country as well as in Tamil Nadu politics. Last year Madurai hosted the Murugan conference. How do you see its impact on society and current political dynamics?
Rama Srinivasan: Historically, Madurai has been a political nerve centre of Tamil Nadu. Leaders like M.G. Ramachandran and Vijay all started their party journeys here. Even Kamal Haasan started his innings from Madurai only.
But in recent years, Madurai has grown significantly from the BJP perspective. Last year we had a Murugan conference that helped us. In the last Parliament election, we could score 2,21,000 votes, which is 24% of the popular vote. We came second, pushing the DMK to third position.
Among the six Assembly segments in Madurai Parliament, this Madurai South constituency, in which I am now contesting, we got 42,000 votes, which was the highest within the Madurai Parliament. So naturally, BJP in alliance with AIADMK in seat sharing has an advantage.
How crucial is this election for the major parties—AIADMK, BJP, and DMK?
Rama Srinivasan: For AIADMK, this is a life-and-death problem. If they lose now, then they have to wait for five years. For a political party, waiting for five years is a very long time. People will not wait.
For BJP also, we want to show our real strength, at least in double digits in the Assembly. So this is going to be crucial.
For Stalin also, it is life or death. DMK cannot afford to stop. If DMK loses its hold on Tamil Nadu power politics, then it will be difficult to come up next time because the political ecosystem is continuously changing in Tamil Nadu.
What is your assessment of DMK politics, especially on issues like delimitation and Centre–State narratives?
Rama Srinivasan: Since 2016, from the Jallikattu issue onwards, DMK and its alliance partners have been continuously projecting a narrative that Narendra Modi is anti-Tamil. Not only today, but for the last 10 years, this has been their narrative—anti-Tamil, anti-Tamil Nadu.
So they will continue to raise any issue based on this three-point formula. If you go to Delhi sweets, there may be a variety of sweets—thousands of sweets—but basically all sweets consist of sugar or jaggery. Only two or three ingredients, but hundreds of varieties of sweets. Similarly, DMK also has only two or three ingredients—anti-Tamil, anti-Tamil Nadu—and they are making thousands of issues based on these basic things.
The DMK is bringing issues like delimitation and North–South division. What is your assessment of such politics and what are you going to offer?
Rama Srinivasan: Since 2016, from the Jallikattu issue onwards, DMK and its alliance partners have been pushing a negative minority-based narrative in Tamil Nadu. They have continuously claimed that Narendra Modi is anti-Tamil and against Tamil Nadu. This has been their consistent narrative for the last 10 years. They raise every issue based on this three-point formula.
Now, on delimitation and similar matters, they have repeatedly approached the courts. In almost all the cases where DMK approached the Supreme Court, they have failed. Even then, they continue to go back again and again, whether to the Supreme Court or High Courts, and face rejection.
Even in the case of the Thirupparankundram Deepam issue, their appeals have been rejected by the courts. Now they are facing contempt proceedings in the High Court and have again approached the Supreme Court, where this too is likely to be rejected.
So in every case they face setbacks, yet they continue the same approach repeatedly. DMK is a cynical party.
They are trying to play everything as pro-minority politics. Minority votes in Tamil Nadu, without any concrete effort, directly go to DMK. That 10% vote becomes a very big factor. So they will continuously oppose. They divide society—Hindu, Muslim, Christian—and divide Hindus on caste lines. Division is their core politics.
DMK went to courts in many cases. In all the cases in which DMK approached the Supreme Court, they failed. But even then, they repeatedly go again and again. Even in this case, their appeals were rejected.
DMK continues to raise Hindi vs Tamil and NEP. What is your response?
Rama Srinivasan: They keep raising Hindi vs Tamil, but DMK did not change their syllabus. In the 1960s, it may have worked, but it will not work again. They say someone imposed Hindi—who imposed it? It was Congress in 1917. Now Congress is their alliance partner.
In the National Education Policy, Narendra Modi insists that the first language should be the mother tongue, the second English, and the third any Indian language—it need not be Hindi. If I am Tamil, I should learn Tamil, I will learn English, and if I am interested, I can learn Sanskrit, Bengali, Malayalam—like this. It is not necessary to learn Hindi.
Coming to developmental politics, Madurai airport has been upgraded to an international airport. How do you see its impact?
Rama Srinivasan: Actually, it should have been done 10–15 years ago. There was a demand for upgrading the airport, but there was strong lobbying against Madurai. P. Chidambaram played a major role as a speed breaker. Now it is all over. When it was taken to Narendra Modi, he immediately agreed. I went to Delhi many times and met the Civil Aviation Minister. They were very interested, so it happened because of Narendra Modi.
Very soon, Madurai must become a global brand, and it should have international connectivity.
What is your promise to the people of Madurai and your vision?
Rama Srinivasan: During my nomination campaign, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis came. When he addressed the public, he assured that Madurai will get Metro Rail. It went viral. It is a promise that is under pipeline.
Madurai was once a pride. Now we see a decline in many aspects—new entrepreneurs, investments, industries, even GST collection. Madurai’s GST collection is around ₹800–1000 crore, while Coimbatore’s is Rs 4000–5000 crore.
We want to rebuild the pride of Madurai. My first promise to my constituents is that I will bring ₹10,000 crore industrial investment funds to Madurai.
Madurai has been listed as the dirtiest city in the country under the Swachh Bharat Mission. This is very hard for our people. If you visit Madurai South, you will see solid waste issues and underground drainage failures—people are suffering badly.
Even without being a politician or candidate, on a humanitarian basis, we should serve. I spoke to Piyush Goyal a couple of days back. I told him there should be a special urban development package for cities like Madurai.
Once I am elected, I will go to Delhi and secure a special package—maybe ₹5000 crore—which even the State Government cannot allocate. This can be done by the Centre, and all problems can be solved. Madurai will become clean.
Your message to voters of Madurai?
Rama Srinivasan: We are telling people—if you want development, vote for BJP. Madurai should grow, the lotus should blossom.
