Even as the national leadership of the BJP has set a Congress-free-Bharat as its objective, the Tamil Nadu unit of the saffron party is working overtime to ensure a BJP-mukth-Tamil Nadu, charged many leaders of the party in the State.
“The Tamil Nadu leaders of the BJP, who claimed in 2014 the party would emerge as an alternative to both the Dravidian majors (the AIADMK and DMK) by 2016 Assembly election find themselves in a no-man’s land after the results of the election were declared,” said Kattuma-nnarkoil Kannan, a national council member of the BJP.
Uma Anandan, a former BJP activist, disclosed some startling information from the 2016 Assembly election results. “P Muraleedhar Rao, the national secretary in charge of the Tamil Nadu BJP had claimed before the Assembly election that the party has more than 50 lakh active members in the State. But the BJP polled less than 1,000 votes in 34 out of the 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu,” pointed out Anandan.
She said the party could poll only less than 2,000 votes in 57 constituencies. “In 58 constituencies it polled between 2,000 and 5,000 votes. A State level office bearer, Aadhavan could poll only 1291 votes in the Vikrapandi constituency, making the party a laughing stock in Tamil Nadu,” she said.
While the Indian National Congress which contested in 41 constituencies could poll 27.7 lakh votes and win eight seats, the BJP which contested in 232 constituencies polled just 12.2 lakh votes (2.86 per cent). The party had polled 2.2 per cent votes in the 2011 assembly election (8.19 lakh votes).
“If the objective of the BJP national leadership is to win seats in the 2019 lok Sabha election from Tamil Nadu, then the party structure has to be revamped at the earliest,” a national-level leader from Tamil Nadu told The Pioneer. He said the party leaders in Tamil Nadu had done nothing during the last two years to strengthen the BJP in the State.
Another leader who took part in the deliberations held at Chennai during the last week to analyse the reasons for the electoral debacle said it was found that there was a shortage of 90,000 active party workers all over Tamil Nadu to work during the Assembly election. “This information should be read together with the charges made by TS Sankaranarayanan and Balasubramania Adityan, former leaders, that active party workers have been kept out of the party for more than a decade,” said the national leader who did not want his name to be disclosed.
He further said a leader who can understand the psyche of Tamil Nadu people should be deputed to the State to oversee the functioning of the party. “It is embarrassing to note that the social media and cyberspace are full of reports about the escapades of some of the leaders. This has not done any good to the BJP which is always projected as the party with a difference,” he said.
Poor selection of candidates and aligning with tainted parties like the IJK has cost the BJP dear, said Anandan and Adityan. Both of them pointed out the symbol lotus polled 2619 votes in Madathukulam constituency in spite of the party candidate crossing over to the AIADMK mid-way through the campaign.
According to Kannan, the 2016 results should be seen as a wake up call for the BJP's central leadership. “In spite of the spirited campaign by the Prime Minister and other national leaders, the BJP has been badly mauled. The only way open for the party is to go it alone in the election. We do not want the name of our Prime Minister to be tarnished because of poor results in Tamil Nadu,” said Kannan.