Of all the pushes that the BJP has made to fulfil its ‘Mission South’ till now, the masterstroke was that the idol of Ram Lalla for Ayodhya’s Ram temple was made by an artiste from the South. by R Dyes
The Lok Sabha polls are just a few months away and the BJP which till now has not had much success in its ‘Mission South’ is yet again looking to make inroads into South India.
If the saffron party’s focus in the 2019 LokSabha elections was making its presence felt in the eastern states, in this year’s General Elections, its focus will be on getting a firm footing in the southern states, where despite many efforts in the last eight years the party has made limited gains.
The five southern states of Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu together account for 129 LokSabha seats, hence they play a major role in government formation at the Centre.
Despite the fact that the party swept North India in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and West India in the 2019 General Elections, the BJP is not sitting on its laurels and is keen to conquer the East and the South to fulfil its national ambitions.
Also, as the party is seeking a third term at the Centre it is bound to be worried about the anti-incumbency factor because not every vote is riding on the Hindutva wave.
So, just as insurance it wants to establish itself in the states that have eluded it till now so that there is no threat to its national ambitions at all and it can fulfil its ambition of ‘Akhand Bharat’ in the long run.
However, the BJP has not been able to make an impact in the South as yet in the last nine-and-a-half years. It won and then lost the gateway to the South, the state of Karnataka. But it has not been for the lack of trying.
The NarendraModi-led Government at the Centre has been wooing the South Indian people with its infrastructure push with the Prime Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister making frequent visits and big-ticket announcements for development projects there, including the launch of Vande Bharat trains.
They have also been playing the inclusivity card for the last few years by increasing the representation of influential figures from the South in key bodies and by giving them important positions.
For instance, Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa has been a part of the Parliamentary board committee of the BJP since 17 August 2022 which is the highest office of authority in the party and Telangana’s Dr K Lakshman is the National President of the party’s OBC Morcha since 26 September 2020.
As part of its southern push, the BJP also held its national executive meeting in Madhapur in Hyderabad in 2022 and it has been trying to bridge the North-South cultural divide by hosting events like the two Kashi-Tamil Sangamams where prominent Tamilians were invited as part of a cultural exchange and to revive the age-old links between Kashi and Tamil Nadu.
However, the North-South divide which is based on the intrinsic nature, culture and mindset of the populace of the two poles of the country is not that easy to bridge.
The South is vastly full of educated, thinking people who don’t get swayed by religion, they are more economically dynamic and socially progressive, their society is almost matriarchal, and they are of a scientific temper and open to research, innovation and entrepreneurship. Plus they have by and large controlled their population, which is a boon of education.
And this is not something that has happened now. This was true of the South way back in the 50s also. Soon after India became Independent. Dr BR Ambedkar, hit the nail on the head when in his book ‘Thoughts on Linguistic States’ he wrote, “There is a vast difference between the North and the South. The North is conservative. The South is progressive. The North is superstitious, the South is rational. The South is educationally forward, the North is educationally backward. The culture of the South is modern. The culture of the North is ancient”.
Also, the tall regional leaders like MK Stalin and Pinarayi Yijayan among others, that dominate the political firmament of the South are not going to make it easy for the BJP to make inroads into their domain.
For instance, in Tamil Nadu, the DMK-led ruling coalition is trying to stall the BJP’s push into its domain by showcasing its welfare schemes, harping on its Dravidian roots, the work it has done for the people and the investments that are coming into the state on the back of improved law and order provisions.
In Karnataka, which the BJP won and lost in the Assembly elections, the party is battling anti-incumbency and is thinking of bringing in new faces. It just got a boost by the return of former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar to its fold after he left for the Congress in April 2023.
However, its biggest rival in the State, the ruling Congress too is exploring potential candidates in Bengaluru city and other constituencies. Names like Mrunal Hebbalkar and Priyanka Jarkiholi are being bandied about for Belagavi. The grand old party is looking for a new Lingayat face in Dharwad and Muslim candidates may be fielded in Haveri and Bengaluru Central to counter the saffron push.
Plus the Karnataka Government has fulfilled all its five poll guarantees in the time it has been in Government and it is reminding the people that it kept its election promises while the BJP and JD-S did not.
In Telangana, there will be a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress as the BRS which was just rejected in the Assembly polls has no role in national politics.
The ruling Revanth Reddy Government is stressing the point that the Congress, which is a part of the INDIA bloc, is a strong alternative to the BJP. It will also corner the BJP on issues that have a lot of resonance with the people like unemployment, polarisation, inflation and farmers’ woes.
Kerala has always been a tough nut to crack for the BJP as the Muslims at 26 per cent and Christians at 18 per cent collectively make up 44 per cent of the population of the state. Now, with the spectre of Manipur violence and bulldozer justice haunting the minority communities, the chances of the saffron party making inroads into the state look slim.
However, the party that is known for its tenacity is not giving up and is trying its best to woo the South and will ramp up its efforts in the months to come, led by the top party leadership.
One will not be surprised if there are big ticket announcements in the Interim Budget for projects in the South.
However, of all the pushes that the BJP has made to fulfil its ‘Mission South’ till now, the masterstroke was that the idol of Ram Lalla for Ayodhya’s Ram temple was made by an artiste from the south, Karnataka’s ArunYogiraj portraying the deity as a five-year-old.
In a country like India where religion means so much to people, in one saffron stroke the BJP has bridged the North-South divide at least on the spiritual level.
It has given Hindus in the South the ownership of Ram Lalla in the North. Will the Hindus of the South be able to resist the lure of Ram Lalla pulling at their heartstrings? Will Ram Lalla open the door to the South for the BJP, only time will tell.
