She is a politician who does not mince words and has been associated with BJP for more than two decades. Vanathi Srinivasan, Member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from Coimbatore South and national president of BJP Mahila Morcha, has been actively campaigning for her party in Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha elections. In this exclusive chat with The Daily Guardian, Vanathi who defeated Kamal Haasan in Coimbatore South in 2021 Assembly elections, talks about saffron party’s growing popularity in Tamil Nadu, the Dravidian parties and more.
Q: PM Narendra Modi has made several trips to Tamil Nadu. How important is Tamil Nadu for BJP, especially this Lok Sabha election?
A: BJP has already set a target of achieving 400 MPs for NDA. All southern states which are having more than 150 seats are very crucial for BJP to win. And for a long time, it has been seen that except Karnataka, the organisation or the presence of BJP in comparison with northern states is less in south India. After 2014 because of the initiative of Prime Minister Modi, the benefits of the schemes, particularly the central government schemes, have reached every household. That is the biggest advantage – whether it is a toilet, or a house, or a gas connection or financial assistance to the street vendors. There are crores of beneficiaries who are directly getting benefitted under the central government schemes. And apart from that, as far as the south region is concerned, the languages, their cultural identity, the local aspirations, and regional sentiments – everything is being respected by BJP as a national party. More than that, Prime Minister is showing interest in south India and the states he visit. Wherever he goes, he speaks highly about Tamil language, Tamil culture and he connects with cultural identity. Today, this north-south divide is being bridged by the BJP as well as Prime Minister.
If you see the recent visits of the Prime Minister to Tamil Nadu, you can see how the people of our state are giving him a warm reception and showing their love and respect to the Prime Minister. The kind of support he is receiving from the people has been unseen in the past. Now, slowly the crowd has started tilting towards BJP and various regional parties have now come into the fold of the NDA alliance.
Q: Do you see BJP-led alliance doing well in Tamil Nadu?
A: Now, as far as BJP-led NDA alliance is concerned in Tamil Nadu, there is a clear advantage we have as we have named our Prime Minister who has performed exceedingly well in the last 10 years. The Prime Minister’s popularity is growing every day and the organization has also grown to receive the people’s support in a proper way. Wherever the BJP does not have a strong presence like North or Central Tamil Nadu, we have an alliance partner who is capable of winning those areas. BJP is already strong in South and West Tamil Nadu. The NDA alliance is being seen as a victorious alliance. The recent visits of the Prime Minister to every part of Tamil Nadu, has geared up the cadres and the party and all the predictions have shown that BJP is coming back to power at the Centre and Modi will be PM for the third time. The confidence level of the cadres and the perception about the next prime minister – everything is in favour of the NDA alliance now.
Q: Tamil Nadu is still seen as a Dravidian (DMK and AIADMK) bastion. What is your take on that?
A: The people here are being continuously brainwashed that BJP is a north Indian party and has no foothold in Tamil Nadu. But even before we came to power at the Centre, we were able to form an alliance with political parties here. There is a myth that political parties are against the BJP but it is not so – every party has embraced the BJP in their alliance. A large number of political leaders from other parties are now joining the BJP as can be seen and there are a lot of opportunities for them in this party. People have now begun to understand who will give them a better government.
The two Dravidian parties (DMK and AIADMK) have been ruling Tamil Nadu for so many years and now the people are fed up with both the Dravidian parties. Now, BJP is being seen as a formidable party, a clean party, a party for all and a party that gives opportunities to many. Slowly, the people have started favouring BJP – the old generation is over; the younger generation understands the ground reality and how the Prime Minister has made India a leading power in the world. For the younger generation who have political aspirations, the BJP is the only party that can satisfy their needs.
Q: As far as Coimbatore is concerned, BJP is strong there and you’ve done a lot of work yourself in the last decade. But Chennai is still a DMK stronghold.
A: In the corporation election in Chennai that happened two years ago, in several places BJP came in second place. Even in the last Assembly elections, candidates like Vinoj P Selvan, got a good number of votes. In South and Central Chennai, there is a lot of penetration that is happening as far as the BJP is concerned. In Coimbatore, the BJP has been strong since 1997 and for a long time, all our organizations, like Hindu Munnani, have been strong. And from 2014 onwards, I started working in the region. Now, the BJP in Chennai is growing but as you said, Coimbatore is comparatively stronger than Chennai.
Q: How many seats is the BJP confident of winning this time round in the Lok Sabha?
A: Definitely, this time NDA will win. As a political leader, we are aspiring to win all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. The BJP is definitely going to make a mark in this election in Tamil Nadu.
Q: In an interview recently, you said that Rahul Gandhi is not a serious political leader. Do you believe it is the end of the road for the Congress party?
A: Yes, of course! You take INDI Alliance. Congress has brought many regional parties together on the dais but when it comes to elections, the regional parties have started to understand the play of Congress. They do not have any serious leader, who is capable of opposing Prime Minister and BJP. If they felt that Rahul Gandhi was an ideal leader to defeat Modi ji, then they would not have dropped out of the INDI Alliance and preferred to go it alone in their states. This is the current situation. Without naming Congress as leading the INDI Alliance and without mentioning Rahul Gandhi as a Prime Minister candidate, it clearly shows that he is not capable of taking the INDI alliance to victory. Since this is the situation, I criticised him and said that he is not a serious political leader – even for the Congress itself. If you see the second-generation leaders who were in the Congress, they are now finding their place in the BJP.