BJP several years back was branded as a Brahmin party by the Dravidian parties in Tamilnadu. BJP’s leadership under Narendra Modi has been very receptive to the feedbacks on the ground and an important step was taken in 2020 to bring in L Murugan as the TN BJP Chief. I would say this was the turning point for TN BJP that helped them shed the false perception of a Brahmin dominated party. The event that followed a year later was nothing less than a masterstroke. K. Annamalai was appointed as the TN BJP Chief. This not only helped eradicate the false negative perception that the Dravidian parties worked so hard to create but acted as a launchpad for the party to make a giant leap into the political space of TN. Let me lay down the strategies employed by Annamalai which has now put BJP in an acceleration mode as we speak, as I see it.

Annamalai being a well-read smart IPS officer equipped with superb management and organizational skills from IIM Lucknow obviously hit the ground running. Annamalai’s first strategy was to break into the closed media ecosystem that had helped set the anti-Modi and anti-BJP narrative. He started to capture the attention of the Tamil public through his detailed logic driven interviews to the TN media which they never before heard. It sounded very fresh and different. It made everyone sit up and notice him albeit for some who were waiting for a strong alternative to the usual Dravidian politics it was a feeling of jubilation, for some in the Dravidian circles it was a feeling of anger, for the general public it was a feeling of curiosity. Annamalai as the first step successfully penetrated into the media space much to the irritation of the DMK who was by then comfortably in power with the help of Prashant Kishor albeit he hailed from a community they usually keep bashing for political gains. Annamalai became the cynosure of all the media channels as he was feeding them with great content whether they liked it or not as they had to run their business too and they needed Annamalai for all the bytes. Annamalai successfully breached the first layer of this onion as the first step and no day passes by for the channels without airing anything relating to Annamalai.

For any party to appeal to the public, it has to define its ideological political rival very clearly. Annamalai embedded into the minds of the public and his cadres that the sole enemy for BJP in Tamil Nadu was DMK. It gave lot of clarity of vision to the cadres which is important for a party while positioning its organization for exponential growth. Management lesson, remember? The public also was very clear now about BJP’s vision in TN due to Annamalai’s day in and day out repetition in his media interviews. Even today in 2024, he has successfully been the daily newsmaker in Tamil Nadu when the principal opposition party, AIADMK, found itself a bit lost.

Next strategy was setting a narrative that sticks with the people. The public at large was still indifferent even though they knew both parties were corrupt with just the degree of corruption varying. When public almost got used to it, Annamalai woke them up with the DMK files. Setting a good narrative needs not only for the narrative to be strong but the person delivering the narrative has to be equally impactful which by now a very confident Annamalai undoubtedly was, as he very clearly knew that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were strongly behind him given his proven skills. It left everyone in the DMK rattled and also gave a hint to the AIADMK that their turn might also come albeit a little later. The narrative that was solidifying was that lot of corruption is happening in TN and BJP was the sole party that was fighting against it.

While all this was happening, Annamalai also understood that his acceptance within the party must be really strong. All the seniors and cadres within the party by now accepted the fact that Annamalai was the best choice for the party in order to succeed. A few egoistic elements within the party that were working against Annamalai were weeded out. With Narendra Modi asking Annamalai to travel with him in his car gave a strong signal to everyone young and old in the party that Annamalai is the boss in TN for BJP and everyone has to fall in line. The internal rumblings were eradicated and as we speak there is no noise at all. Annamalai’s internal stabilization strategy worked and now BJP is totally focusing on their goals.

Narrative setting has to be a continuous process. Fully aware of this, Annamalai started his padyatra across the length and breadth of TN. Enn Mann, Enn Makkal yatra was an excellent move which saw people thronging in lakhs and thousands to meet this Thalaivar who by now has become very popular in the state. All youngsters, middle aged and old, women and men equally have started attending his rallies in large numbers which very important in politics. The more the people following you the more powerful you become. The recent crowd for Narendra Modi in Trichy on January 2^nd, showed clearly that Annamalai and BJP have succeeded in their mission to strengthen the Modi image in TN which was a very important goal to be achieved. With the padyatra continuing, the narrative setting continues which is the right strategy.

With the DMK files helping a bit with the narrative setting around corruption, Annamalai had to keep repeating this and kept reiterating that Modi will not tolerate corruption. The raids by the Enforcement Directorate rattled the very core of DMK establishment with two senior Ministers in office falling into the net, one currently in jail and another set to go to jail after the court judgment. This was an uppercut in boxing parlance that sent the opponent reeling to the ground from which they don’t seem to have recovered fully yet. With ED investigation of some more ministers ongoing, the narrative that BJP is the sole party fighting against the corrupt has gone deeper into the minds of the TN makkal. The effort started with the DMK files has produced very good fruits for the BJP already.

The trio of Modi, Nirmala Seetharaman and Annamalai working together to drive the BJP agenda is another super strategy. On one side Modi comes and inaugurates lot of new projects for the people of TN, on the other side Nirmala comes and in her own assertive style exposes the double standards of the DMK and on the third side Annamalai goes to several districts of TN and tells the huge crowds that gather about the greatness of Modi’s schemes, the problems with the current dispensation who is claiming credit for the work actually done by the Modi government and the list goes on. The recent body language of the DMK seems to suggest that they are trying to do damage control by pacifying Narendra Modi. This makes it clear that they are feeling nervous and cornered with this pressure from three sides. The feeling of anti-incumbency has been further drilled down into the minds of the public.

To summarise, Annamalai has succeeded in penetrating the media ecosystem, setting the right anti-corruption narrative, reenergizing the Modi brand, stabilizing and strengthening his teams although there is lot of work still to be done, instilling in the minds of people that BJP can be considered as an alternative to the Dravida politics that they are tired of and giving the public a home grown authentic face that they can trust and rally around. It’s not a surprise why Narendra Modi chose this young man as his lieutenant in TN. Even if BJP bags 10 seats in TN in 2024, I would think that Modi’s BJP powered by Annamalai has arrived and will be a part of the government in 2026.

Ananth Mahadevan is a political commentator based in Bengaluru.

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