Chennai: With the recent entry of sandalwood smuggler Veerapan's daughter Vidya Rani into BJP, it seems that the national party is attempting to woo intermediary castes in a bid to consolidate its Hindu vote bank.
This attempt comes at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party's political strategy is complemented by the emergence of actor Rajinikanth as a key challenger to the Dravidian brand of politics in Tamil Nadu, particularly the DMK.
Inducted in the presence of national general secretary Muralidhar Rao and former Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, Rani belongs to the Vanniyar community, which is an intermediary dominant caste.
Her membership will help the party cater to its Vanniyar vote bank in Tamil Nadu, said sources from state BJP.
An main claimant of Vanniyars' approval is the Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), started by Dr Ramadoss. The community is numerically significant vote bank in northern districts of Tamil Nadu.
In fact, the PMK's Vanniyar community helped the ruling AIADMK win a few seats in the 2019 local body elections.
"Our objective is to portray the BJP as an inclusive party for the state elections. We have chalked out a strategy to have leaders cater to different castes and religions. Pon R will be focusing on the Muslim community and H Raja will cater to hard-core Hindus," said a senior BJP leader.
"We feel Veerappan's daughter will help us get votes from the Vanniyar community," he said.
He said as protests against CAA and Centre intensify, BJP feels the need to have people from different castes represent the party so voters don't look at it as a hardcore upper caste party.
Another instance of an explicit overture to the Vanniyars is the BJP's support for Draupathi, a movie which made waves with its trailer depicting girls as trophies hunted by young men of oppressed communities.
The movie, with its narrative of the alleged romantic entrapment of girls, takes potshots at the narrative advanced by Dalit emancipation filmmakers such as Pa. Ranjith.
Arjun Sampath, a spokesperson for the right-wing group 'Hindu Munnani' has openly supported Draupathi and termed it a "must-watch". H Raja, BJP National Secretary, said the movie ought to be watched by all communities.
However, analysts say BJP’s attempt to rope in Veerappan’s daughter is a clear move but the desired effect could be a difficult to attain.
N Sathiya Moorthy of the Political Observer said — “By staying away from the limelight during much of the intervening period, she may have lost the connect. Her influence, if any, may be confined to areas where PMK is strong, where she will be seen as prospective competition."
"If BJP is able to carry them both, it's fine. Else, she may go back to the leadership, complaining that the PMK as an ally — if it became one — was not providing her the elbow room," Moorthy said.
"If AIADMK is also there, the combination can do only the same thing and her presence will not matter," he said. Moorthy added that in this scenario, within the state BJP's cadre-ridden hierarchy, she would be dissolved without a trace or be completely sidelined.
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