For the second time in succession, BJP president Amit Shah has cancelled his trip to Tamil Nadu. The BJP boss was to fly down to Chennai on Tuesday for a two-day whirlwind tour in Tamil Nadu to beef up the party for the 2019 lok Sabha election. He was scheduled to hold discussions with State leaders and interact with cadre and the intelligentsia in Tamil Nadu. Though no reasons have been given for the last minute cancellation of the visit, party cadre and BJP activists are of the view that the strong internal fight in the party among top State leaders could be the reason.
Party cadre and senior leaders are unanimous in the view that Tamil Nadu BJP could be saved only if the national leadership decides to overhaul the State leadership. “What can you do when you have a plot of land in an arid area and that too without any possibility of getting water to irrigate itIJ It will remain a desert. Tamil Nadu BJP is like a desert where there is no possibility for the growth of a blade of grass with the present State leadership around,” said a veteran who has been with the BJP since its formation. He spoke on condition that his name would not be quoted anywhere as he holds an important position in one of the frontal organisations of the BJP.
Shah has made many visits to Tamil Nadu as part of his plan to get the BJP emerges as an effective forces in the State. While addressing a mammoth public rally in a Chennai suburb in December 2014, he had exhorted the party leaders in Tamil Nadu to get 60 lakh additional members enrolled in the BJP. The BJP boss had reasons to make a demand like that. “There are 60,000 booths in Tamil Nadu. All you have to do is enrol 100 new members in each of these booths so that we would have 60 lakh new members to work for us,” he had told the leaders. But the truth is that the BJP, which is ruling the country, has not made an inch forward in Tamil Nadu towards its dream of emerging as the No.1 party in the State.
While the BJP-led NDA polled 18. 5 per cent of the popular votes in Tamil Nadu in the 2014 lok Sabha election thanks to the gruelling campaign undertaken by Natendra Modi and Shah. The party had to content with just 2.86 per cent votes in the 2016 Assembly election. Most of the top leaders, including the State party chief Tamilisssai Sounderarajan lost their deposits in the hustings.
“While in the 2014 lok Sabha election, the BJP-led NDA had polled more than 75 lakh votes, the party and its allies could poll just 12 lakh votes in the 2016 Assembly election despite intensive campaign by the Prime Minister and Ami Shah. This proves beyond doubt that the present leaders of Tamil Nadu BJP are thoroughly incapable of leading the party from the abyss it is finding itself now,” said T S Sankara Narayanan, a long time party activist.
Doraisamy Kuppuramu, state level leader from Ramanathapuram, said as on date each booth in Tamil Nadu may have 15 or 20 BJP workers. “Whatever Narendra Modi or Amit Shah tells do not reach the party cadre or workers since the national leaders communicate in Hindi while we do not follow it thanks to the Dravida Maya,” said Kuppuramu.
Kuppuramu agreed with the suggestion made by Sankaranarayanan that there should be a thorough overhaul of the party structure in the State by inducing new blood. “Well the old guard should go because they have proved their incompetece,” said Kuppuramu.