Speculations galore that Prime Minister Narendra Modi might stand in Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. An article in Sunday Guardian mooted this idea and social media is abuzz with this idea ever since then.
The writer of this piece had in the past mooted the idea of PM Modi standing in a seat from Tamil Nadu and even suggested the constituency of Madurai, the Eternal City and the seat of Tamil Sangams and where Lord Shiva played his divine Tiruvilaiyadal multiple times.
Amidst this backdrop, Narendra Modi contesting from Ramanathapuram in 2024 could be hitting many mangoes with a single stone, a multi-utility move which can serve a variety of purposes. Let us look at the purposes one by one below.
1. Fostering North-South Unity
Narendra Modi is a sitting member from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. Varanasi is one of the holiest cities for Hindus. A Hindu life is incomplete without a pilgrimage to Varanasi and any pilgrimage to Varanasi is incomplete without a visit to Rameshwaram and performing the rites for our ancestors. This Kashi-Rameshwaram bond is one of those invisible bonds or threads across Hindus in India binding them together despite all regional and linguistic differences. A bond which fosters Unity in Diversity for Indians. Modi standing in Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2024 alongside Varanasi will foster this unity further and put an end to secessionist forces who whip up passions furthering North-South divide. If he contests from Ramnad, it will further fortify the goodwill created by the recent Kashi Tamil Sangamam and help create a Sangaman of North and South minds.
2. Perception Change
Detractors of Modi in Tamil Nadu portrayed Modi as the villain of Tamils post the death of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in 2016 and managed to create a maya that Modi is anti-Tamil, anti-South and held him responsible for all the ills plaguing the state of Tamil Nadu. This anti-Modi feeling was prevalent in 2019 and his detractors primarily anti-national forces portrayed him as someone who ran away breaking the compound wall of IIT-M. This wave soon fizzled out and his words in a public meeting in Madurai “Narendra and Devendra” stroked the right chord with the masses in 2021 and enabled NDA win 19 out of 60 Assembly seats in Pandya Nadu region (the region surrounding Madurai) of the state where Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha seat is located.
Modi contesting from Ramnad in 2024 will convey to his detractors that he is taking their challenge head on and this move of his will generate a pro-Modi wave in Tamil Nadu which can help NDA sweep in 2024. Modi has a golden chance to convert a state which was anti-Modi in 2019 to a pro-Modi state in 2024. That would be the real pinnacle of his electoral successes.
3. Dravidian Faultlines
Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha seat exposes the faultlines of Dravidian polity. The Lok Sabha seat is under developed when compared to a seat in Kongu region or Madras region. It is one of the poorest districts of Tamil Nadu long neglected by Dravidian polity. The Lok Sabha seat supplies hard working migrant labourers to Gulf and South East Asia. Ramnad is a barren and dry district which has not seen industrial development so far. The very fact that the district got its medical college only recently stands to the testimony of its backwardness. The voter’s turnout data of the seat itself will reveal the apathy of lack of development as many males who had gone out to eke out a living abroad working in harsh conditions not able to exercise their franchisee and hence the women voters will outnumber men big time in this seat. Modi will emerge as the beacon of hope for the voters of the constituency and he can expose the Dravidian faultlines of regional imbalance in development and write a new chapter in Tamil Nadu’s polity.
4. Unification Of NDA
Lok Sabha results of 2019 in Ramnad reveals all that is wrong with NDA in Tamil Nadu. IUML Candidate fielded by UPA won with 44% votes. The BJP candidate polled 32.2% and the candidate fielded by AMMK, a splinter group of AIADMK led by TTV Dinakaran, polled 13%. A united NDA would have won the seat easily in 2019 itself despite the anti-Modi wave in 2019.
Modi by standing now can romp home easily securing more than 60% and he standing here could bring all the earring groups of AIADMK together thereby strengthening NDA big time. TTV Dinakaran has already said he is not averse to Modi and O Paneerselvam’s bonhomie with Modi is well known as well. Modi’s candidature will create a conducive atmosphere for warring faction of ADMK to unite as well as enhance BJP’s bargaining power in seat sharing as well. Modi’s candidature will reinvigorate NDA cadres bigtime and enable them a sweep in TN.
5. Modi And Tamil
Modi quotes Tamil Literature and great Tamil poets like Bharathiyar, Valluvar and Poongondran with ease wherever he goes. No other PM of India would have extensively quoted Tamil literature and poets as Modi had done in various prestigious global forums. Modi govt’s numerous initiatives like Mudra loans, crop insurance and free food grains under NFSA have benefitted Tamil Nadu big. And not to forget, the numerous national highway schemes and the introduction of new additional trains to Tamil Nadu like Chennai-Madurai Tejas Express, Chennai-Nagercoil Antyodaya Express, broad gauging of Madurai to Bodi line, restoration of Pamban Bridge have also benefitted the state especially the people of South Tamil Nadu. Statistics reveal the attacks on Indian fisherman by Sri Lankan Navy and the casualties associated with such attacks have come down dramatically since Modi took office. Ramnad has a large chunk of these fisher men folk. Modi standing in Ramnad will further make him closer and dearer to the hearts of Tamils.
6. Electoral Challenge
At a time, when Modi’s opponent is looking for a safe seat i.e., a seat with a demography suited to him, Modi standing from a seat in Tamil Nadu where BJP is considered weak and lacking organisational strength will signal to his detractors that he is not new to electoral challenges and will not run away like his opponents in search of a safe seat. Modi standing in Varanasi in 2014 turned around the fortunes of BJP in Uttar Pradesh and the adjacent Bihar and helped them sweep both the states. Modi standing now in Ramnad can potentially prove to be a point of inflexion for BJP’s fortune in Tamil Nadu, breach the Dravidian citadel and provide the much-needed fillip to the young Annamalai, who is taking on the mighty ecosystem single handedly.
Modi standing in Ramnad will not only help NDA win a majority of seats in Tamil Nadu but also help BJP catapult from sub 10% vote share in the state to 20% plus vote share and fill the vacuum left behind by the demise of Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa in the state.
Indira Gandhi backtracked from contesting in Tanjore Lok Sabha seat in late 70s. A move that could have helped Congress bounce back in the state but she left that golden opportunity go. Modi has a chance to rewrite the electoral history of the state now. He must contest in Ramnad.
A risk worth taking and a risk which must be taken!
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