Lighthouse I The changing dynamics of BJP in Tamil Nadu

After the massive victory of DMK in the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP is finding it hard to reconcile itself to having little access to proxy control of running the state administration and wants a more aggressive tactician as a governor

There is a subtle push for the change of governor for Tamil Nadu. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seriously reviewing its strategy after the massive victory of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the 2021 assembly elections. The BJP is finding it hard to reconcile itself to having little access to proxy control of running the state administration and wants a more aggressive tactician as a governor. The elevation of Annamalai, an erstwhile police officer, as the president of the state BJP unit and the appointment of L Murugan as minister of state (MoS) are intended to consolidate caste and sub-regional identities with a long-term gameplan of divide and rule in Tamil Nadu politics. During the last five years, BJP has enjoyed the reign of proxy rule in Tamil Nadu with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in power and the complete turnaround in the politics of Puducherry through the office of lieutenant governor.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin. (PTI)

The office of governor in Indian politics has always been an instrument of coercive influence for the ruling party at Centre. The relevance of this office has also been debated in recent decades. We may not be able to do away with this institution given the colonial nature of political education that our ruling elites have imbibed and the useful negative functions of this office comparable to the role of viceroy between the colony and the empire. The BJP has gone further to fill this office with former party veterans and pracharaks (propagandists) from the RSS.

According to the Indian constitution, the primary function of the governor is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law as incorporated in their oath of office under Article 159 in the administration of the state affairs. All their actions, recommendations and supervisory powers (under Article 167C, Article 200, Article 213, Article 355, etc.) over the executive and legislative entities of a state shall be used to implement the provisions of the constitution. It is necessary to observe that the governor is not permitted to take any decision on his own without the state cabinet’s advice when an elected government is in charge under the provisions of Part VI of the constitution.

The political functions delivered by C Vidyasagar Rao as additional charge of Tamil Nadu besides being the governor of Maharashtra during the critical period of Jayalalithaa’s illness and her passing away were of pure political opportunism, exploiting the circumstances of chaos, confusion and uncertainty within the AIADMK, choking the DMK as an active opposition through backhand checkmates and consolidation of control for the BJP in Tamil Nadu politics by keeping the AIADMK government on ventilator through subversion and sabotage of legal and constitutional procedures.

The role and office of governor, after the demise of Jayalalithaa and under the leadership of Edappadi Palanisamy, has been applied for everything under the sky from bridging the factions within the AIADMK to forging allies in local politics. The governor has emerged as the first and last word from high appointments at the universities to managing party and political crisis for the ruling party under the eagle eyes of the BJP key state unit members and RSS stalwarts in the state. The BJP has picked a handful of at least five state universities through the privileges and prerogatives of the governor as the chancellor, including the prestigious University of Madras and the Anna University (for Engineering and Technical Education). After Rao, Banwarilal Purohit has been facilitating the penetration for the BJP in Tamil Nadu with the critical access and movement for the party inside the corridors of power in a state, where it did not have a single member in the state legislature until recently or control over any local bodies.

The BJP in Tamil Nadu, under the solemn presence of the governor, has been conducting itself like a parallel government and political opposition to raise its stakes in the eyes of the people in the state, until the recently concluded assembly elections. Neither is this proxy rule likely to extend with the return of DMK in power nor is the BJP is set to reconcile with enormous inroads it has made in the state politics. The governor’s address to the state legislature is a measure of MK Stalin-led DMK government’s determination to define the agenda. The BJP will try to make a Puducherry out of Tamil Nadu by appointing a governor who will not shy away from running like a bull into a china shop. It will, however, be a gross underestimation of the Tamil Nadu government and the political culture of the state.

Prof. Ramu Manivannan is a scholar-social activist in areas of education, human rights and sustainable development through an initiative “Multiversity”