Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday claimed the BJP would win “double-digit” seats in Kerala and that neighbouring Tamil Nadu would “create history in 2024”, as he led the party’s ambitious southern push with two rallies ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Modi, who is on a two-day official-cum-political visit to the two southern states, addressed the first party rally in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram and then flew to Tirupur in Tamil Nadu for the second rally.
In both states, the BJP had undertaken yatras to gain a foothold to fulfil Modi’s determined bid to win Lok Sabha seats from territories that had not been welcoming of the saffron camp. This is Modi’s third visit this year to the southern states. On Wednesday, he will address another rally in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli.
“In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kerala gave a two-digit vote share to the BJP. This time, the party will win double-digit seats from Kerala,” Modi told the rally in Thiruvananthapuram, accusing the ruling Left Democratic Front and the Opposition United Democratic Front of being “each other’s enemies in the state” but being “best friends forever” outside Kerala.
In Tirupur of Tamil Nadu, Modi did not make claims of winning Lok Sabha seats as in Kerala but he sought to push hard the party’s effort to get a foothold and grow in the state. “The people who sit in air-conditioned rooms in Delhi and try to divide the country need to come here and see that Tamil Nadu is shaping the destiny of India,” he said, claiming that the crowd at the rally looked like a “saffron sea”.
“In 2024, Tamil Nadu is going to become the newest vibrant centre of the politics of development. In 2024, Tamil Nadu is going to create history,” he added, claiming he had a “dil ka rishta” with Tamil Nadu. The rally was held to mark the conclusion of the “En Man, En Makkal” (My soil, my people) yatra undertaken by state party chief K. Annamalai.
With the AIADMK snapping ties with the BJP, Modi made an attempt to woo the supporters of the party, hailing the late Jayalalithaa as a great leader devoted to the ideology of Dravidian stalwart MGR (former chief minister M.G. Ramachandran) while slamming the ruling DMK for "deviating" from the path and following dynastic politics.
“MGR was a great leader. Going against the tradition of the dynasty, he established the tradition of good governance. Today, unfortunately, the way the DMK has been working in Tamil Nadu is an insult to MGR,” he said. “J. Jayalalithaa devoted her life to the ideology of MGR,” he added and underlined that he had the “good fortune” of working with the late leader.
At both rallies, Modi targeted the ruling parties in the two states over dynastic politics and corruption while seeking to associate with the local language and culture in a bid to connect with the people. He accused the ruling Left in Kerala of following the “one family rule model” of the Congress, and the DMK in Tamil Nadu of looting the state.
“Even though the BJP has not been in power in Tamil Nadu, the state has always been in the heart of the BJP. All my Tamil brothers and sisters understand this and are aware of it,” he said, terming the rally a mammoth one.
