Chennai, March 2 (BPNS)
The southern tip of Tamil Nadu has again retained its position as the strong fort of the BJP with the saffron party winning 200 of the 308 seats it won in the February 19 urban local body elections.
It was in Kanniyakumari district that the BJP opened its account in Tamil Nadu winning the Padmanabhapuram seat through its leader C. Velaudham.
Twenty-six years later, the BJP continues its winning streak winning 200 of the 308 seats from the district after the historic political entry of the saffron party in the Dravida land.
In two town panchayats of Eraniel and Mandaikadu, the BJP is all set to become chairmen where the party won a majority of seats. In half a dozen other local bodies BJP is trying to win the chairman posts by wooing in independents.
The politics of Kanniyakumari district is communally polarized with the Christians on the one side and the Hindus on the other side. While a large majority of Hindus back the BJP, an equal number of Christians are backing the Congress pushing the major Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK to a corner.
The seeds of communal polarization of Kanniyakumari dates back to 1962 when a group of people formed the Kanniyakumari committee to install a statue of Swami Vivekananda at a rock in the middle of the sea where Swami Vivekananda had meditated for three days.
However, this news of installing the statue of Swami Vivekananda was not taken in good faith by the local fishermen belonging to the Catholic faith. They put up a big cross visible from the shore that led to major protests by the Hindu community who stood firm that it was a worship site for the Hindus. A judicial probe also confirmed unequivocally that it was a Hindu worship centre. The cross was removed in the secrecy of night and this sowed the first seed of communalism in Kanniyakumari.
While the seeds of communal division were sown by this incident, it was the Mandikadu riots that became the turning point in the growth of BJP in 1982. According to a BJP narrative, Christians objected to Hindu women visiting Mandaikadu Bhagavathy Amman temple and taking baths close to the temple in the sea.
C. Velayudham who won the Padmanabapuram seat in 1996 for the BJP while speaking to BPNS said, “ Christian men chased women who were taking bath in the sea and two police inspectors who were posted as security opened fire. This police firing killed nine fishermen”.
However Christian community leaders differed the narrative and said that this was false propaganda on the part of Hindu organizations. The situation at Mandaikadu turned volatile leading to a major communal polarization in the area.
Hindu Munnani was formed and in 1984, K.V. Balachandran contested as an independent with the backing of the Hindu Munnani and won the seat. However, the BJP had a formal entry into the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in 1996 through C. Velayudham.
Dr. R. Padmanabhan, Political observer and Director of Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank while speaking to BPNS said, “ The BJP went on to capitalize on the communal divide with the Christians and after the 1996 success, the party won the Loksabha seat of Nagercoil in 1999 and brought a few development projects thus consolidating the BJP position. However, he lost in recent elections in 2019.”
However, Justin Antony of the International Fishermen Development Trust (Infidt) while speaking to BPNS said,” The BJP gaining by the votes of Hindus only is propaganda unleashed by vested interests. The BJP government of Narendra Modi is proactive in rescuing fishermen stranded overseas which has led to its support base growing among Christian fishermen.”
He adds, “In 2020, 731 Indian fishermen that include 600 from TN were stranded in Iran and the Government of India was quick in rescuing them back to the homeland. Most of these fishermen were Christians.”
Justin said that nine more fishermen from the district were jailed in Iran and Union External affairs minister, S. Jaishankar and Union home minister Amit Shah intervened in the matter and all nine were rescued. He said,” All the nine were Christians and this has helped the BJP gain ground among the Christian population also.”
With the BJP on the one side working among the Hindu vote bank, on the other side, it is using the influence and power of the Central government to wean away Christians also into its fold.
Dr. Uma Maheswari, Political analyst while speaking to BPNS said, “BJP has got a firm ground in Kanniyakumari now and has done proper social engineering. It has the Hindu vote bank ensured and is slowly but surely entering into Christian hearts through the functioning of the Government of India.”
