Want PM to contest from TN, expecting over 10 MPs from state: BJP’s women wing chief
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, March 7
BJP’s women wing president Vanathi Srinivasan on Thursday said the party’s Tamil Nadu unit wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contest from the southern state where the BJP was emerging as a formidable third force, challenging Dravidian hegemony.
“We want the Prime Minister to contest from Tamil Nadu but a final decision on it is ultimately the party’s call. Affection for the Prime Minister was there for all to see when he visited historic temples of the state on the eve of Lord Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya. We are expecting double digit MPs from Tamil Nadu this time. The electoral ground for the BJP is ripe,” said Srinivasan, the firebrand Mahila Morcha president from Tamil Nadu, who shot to fame in 2021 when she defeated actor Kamal Haasan in the Assembly election from Coimbatore South.
The BJP has struggled to win Lok Sabha seats in the southern state, having bagged three LS segments in 1998, four in 1999, one in 2014 and none in 2019.
Speaking to The Tribune on Women’s Day eve, Vanathi said she was ready to contest LS elections from Tamil Nadu should the party direct her to. She added that the BJP would post surprising results in the state where its candidates had bagged four MLA seats in the 2021 Assembly elections after a gap of 22 years.
“A space for the third force is emerging in Tamil Nadu where we have no tall local leader after the demise of J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi. The BJP is stitching together a rainbow coalition of many small parties, community organisations and influential individuals. Already five parties are in NDA, including GK Vasan’s Tamil Maanila Congress,” Vanathi said.
On women’s emergence as a major electoral segment, the BJP’s women wing president said women “will power the BJP’s 400 seat plus target in the upcoming LS polls”.
“We have asked all our state units to ensure that women are engaged in sending suggestions for the BJP’s Sankalp Patra on NaMo application,” the leader said.
Asked to comment on only 14 per cent candidates in the BJP’s first list of 195 LS nominees being women, Vanathi said: “We will see a greater share of women candidates in the subsequent list, even though reaching the 33 per cent mark right now is difficult.”
She added that as someone from Tamil Nadu with a national role in the BJP, which rules the roost in the Hindi heartland, language was her top challenge.
“I learnt Hindi from scratch. Language was my greatest challenge in the role but I managed to overcome it by carrying a translator everywhere I went. I must add, though that to understand emotions, language can never be a barrier,” she said.
Vanathi added: “Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK is anti-Sanatan, anti-Hindi and anti-Hindu. This type of politics has an expiry date which has passed.”
‘Giant-killer’ Vanathi Srinivasan
Vanathi Srinivasan, 53, was named BJP Mahila Morcha chief in October 2020 when she was the party’s Tamil Nadu unit vice-president. She emerged a giant-killer in TN’s 2021 polls by defeating actor Kamal Haasan in Coimbatore South
