The Hindu : Riding piggyback

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 09, 2003

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Riding piggyback

In Tamil Nadu, the BJP could feed on the `soft Hindutva' of the AIADMK in the long term, says Suresh Nambath.

IN TAMIL Nadu, one issue is settled for the BJP. It will fight the next Lok Sabha election in the company of either of the two major Dravidian parties, the DMK or the AIADMK. But, which of the two is not a choice for it to make.

Right now, the BJP is in alliance with the DMK. However, neither the BJP nor the DMK is sure how long the alliance will last. The DMK insists that there is no alliance with the BJP at the State level. And, many of the State BJP leaders seem more comfortable with the AIADMK.

The alliance strategy then will have to depend on the moves of the DMK and the AIADMK. And so, there is no option but to wait for the DMK and the AIADMK to close their options.

Unlike in Karnataka, where the BJP is strong enough to fight elections on its own, or in Andhra Pradesh, where there is only one potential ally among the major parties, or in Kerala, where there is no possibility of allying with the major parties, in Tamil Nadu the BJP can count on either the DMK or the AIADMK as an ally. To that extent, the party is in a comfortable position.

However, there are numerous other issues the BJP would have to consider in its long-term interests. The DMK is, in many ways, a more reliable ally. Especially after the previous experience with the AIADMK, in 1998-99 when Jayalalithaa put relentless pressure on its national leadership, the BJP finds the DMK easier to handle.

But this `plus' under the DMK head comes with many other `minuses'. Ideologically, both the DMK and the BJP are uncomfortable with each other. The DMK stepped in when the AIADMK pulled out of the alliance in 1999, but, beyond that, it does not have any affinity with the BJP. There is now a growing feeling in the DMK that it had to forfeit its minority and secular votes for allying with the BJP.

Similarly, in the BJP, there is a growing uneasiness about the DMK's attitude on Hindutva issues, especially when contrasted with the `soft Hindutva' peddled by the AIADMK. Moreover, the BJP could hope to grow in alliance with the AIADMK. As the party with Hindutva at its core, the BJP could feed on the `soft Hindutva' of the AIADMK in the long term. After all, wherever the BJP has grown on its own, it has positioned itself against Christians (Kanyakumari district) and Muslims (Coimbatore). To expand further, it would have to take up the anti-Dravidian space of the Congress and the diluted Dravidianism of the AIADMK against the DMK.

Not surprisingly, the BJP leaders are playing it safe. The first priority is not to offend either the AIADMK or the DMK. The party's decision not to contest the Sattankulam byelection is reflective of such a strategy. Both the DMK, which is boycotting the byelection, and the AIADMK, which feared a split in its vote-bank, were quite happy to have the BJP out of the field.

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