The Bharatiya Janata Party has set the ball rolling on the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign messaging with union home minister Amit Shah ruing the fact that there hasn’t been a Prime Minister from Tamil Nadu yet.
Behind the clearly apparent emotional appeal to Tamil sentiment, there was a subtle blame in his statement. For decades under Congress rule at the Centre, there was a constant battle for state rights and autonomy from Tamil Nadu.
From the continuing stalemate over Cauvery water sharing to the thorny language imposition, Tamil Nadu has always felt short-changed over the Centre’s intent to resolve issues once and for all. And, of course, there are battle scars from various protests including those against the Emergency that leaders from Tamil Nadu, particularly from Congress ally DMK, continue to wear with pride.
It is this discontent that Amit Shah is trying to tap through his claim that Tamil Nadu deserves a PM from its land.
The southern state has produced great leaders like Kamaraj, Rajaji, and Moopanar during the freedom struggle, but it’s unfortunate that there hasn’t been a PM from Tamil Nadu yet, he said at a meeting in Vellore.
At an internal meeting, Shah delivered a pep talk to karyakartas (workers) and urged them to work unitedly under state chief K Annamalai.
“Home minister Amit Shah recalled his entry into politics and told us how he started off as a booth president and went on to become the party’s national president to now the home minister of India. In this context, Amit Shah asked the party karyakartas to work hard so they could climb the ranks and become the Prime Minister in the future,” a senior leader told News 18 on condition of anonymity.
In Tamil Nadu, the narratives over the chaotic rule under the DMK are being driven by BJP state president Annamalai. With Shah bringing in the national angle, it appears that the BJP is approaching the state with a thought-out strategy.
A source privy to the meeting said: “Amit Shah is clear that the BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK will continue in the 2024 polls as the minister kept saying that the NDA should aim to win at least 25 seats from the state. The home minister is of the view that its alliance with the AIADMK will help the party perform better.”
In his public meeting in Vellore district, Shah sounded the poll bugle and said he is confident that under the leadership of state president K Annamalai, the NDA will get more than 25 seats.
“I have complete faith in the way Annamalai has organised the BJP in Tamil Nadu and I can say with conviction that more than 25 NDA MPs will be elected from Tamil Nadu. There will be a number of ministers in the cabinet from the state,” he said at the public meeting on Sunday.
Amit Shah lashed out at the DMK and called it a “corrupt” party. This is in line with Annamalai’s “corruption pitch” to face the upcoming polls. Annamalai released the “DMK Files” on April 14 this year and said that the BJP is the only party that is clean and, going forward, he would expose parties that are corrupt.
The home minister also reminded the people of the state of the installation of the sengol in the new Parliament building and urged the voters of Tami Nadu to elect more than 25 BJP MPs in the state to thank the Prime Minister who had installed the sceptre.
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