May 4th, 2026 went down in India’s political history as a day that was marked with a lot of key turning points that will move some states into an altogether new trajectory that would prove very significant and transformational. It marked the permanent end of an era and a fresh new beginning. With Kerala going towards the Congress, this day also marked an end to the Left but knowing Congress’s track record and infighting, this might not be permanent and Left might come back to power again next time.
Bengal chose to permanently end the Left and semi-Left kind of politics and ushered in a fresh Hindutva driven development-oriented politics. Tamil Nadu also decided to move permanently away from the age old Dravidam politics but unlike Bengal, has chosen a brand new party that doesn’t have any proven experience of governance. Bengal will have a very stable government for several years to come but we’ll have to wait and watch for Tamil Nadu.
Actor Joseph Vijay’s TVK has formed the government in Tamil Nadu. TVK has taken the help of those parties to form the government who might pull in different directions as it is an alliance of convenience and desperation rather than any commonality of ideology. With the two Dravidian parties not being the popular choice anymore of the Tamil public, BJP has an excellent opportunity to take the space of a serious contender to TVK after five years. They can make the 2031 election absolutely bipolar.
People are comparing Joseph Vijay’s advent to the advent of the great MGR but it will take a lot of time for Vijay to acquire the political acumen that MGR had when he started his new party. Vijay’s regime will almost be similar to that of Jagan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh who also stormed to power. TVK’s policies sound like an old wine in a new bottle. If BJP can get its act together quickly, it can actually form the next government in Tamil Nadu on its own with K. Annamalai holding the key to this door of opportunity.
What should BJP do in the next five year? Here are my two cents. BJP must make Annamalai as the President of Tamil Nadu BJP. It must get some veterans to retire or make them redundant. This will stop all the counterproductive forces from pulling the party and Annamalai two steps back. It must give Annamalai total independence to run the party on his own terms and form his own team with young leaders like Vinoj Selvam, SG Suryah etc. who will bring in the energy and will to ramp up the party. BJP has to transform itself into a party of the youth if it has to fight TVK’s image and push narratives that the public will relate to.
BJP should take a year to reorganize itself by which time the blind attraction towards TVK will go down a bit as public will start comparing actual implementation versus the lofty promises made. This will be the time for Annamalai and team to step up and go full throttle talking about the gaps and raising issues pertinent to common man. They will have a lot of issues to talk about especially on the performance of some allies of TVK that are vying for ministerial berths. Annamalai should restart his padayatra two years before the next assembly elections and garner support for himself and the party. People would have seen TVK and if they start looking for who else, they will starting thinking about BJP. There has been a generational shift in Tamil Nadu now and we’ve officially entered the post-Dravidam era.
It all depends on how seriously BJP works on this Tamil Nadu blueprint with Annamalai at the helm. They should not make the mistake of again doing the traditional politics of passive alliance and consensus etc. This is the time to go bold and alone without carrying any baggage of the past. They don’t have any dependency on any other party now. They should latch on to this golden opportunity now and I don’t see why Tamil Nadu will not go the way Bengal has gone now. Otherwise, their dream of forming a government on their own in Tamil Nadu will just remain a dream and they will allow the old Dravidam politics to creep back pushing Tamil Nadu back into the past.
Ananth Narayan is a political commentator.
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