Kanniyakumari retains its position as BJP’s stronghold after TN urban polls

Chennai: The southern tip of Tamil Nadu has once again retained its position as the stronghold of the BJP with the saffron party winning 200 seats here out of the 308 in the February 19 urban local body elections.

It was in Kanniyakumari district that the BJP opened its account in Tamil Nadu winning the Padmanabhapuram seat through its leader C. Velaudham.

Twenty-six years later, the BJP continues its winning streak winning 200 of the 308 seats from the district after the historic political entry of the saffron party in the Dravida land.

In two town panchayats of Eraniel and Mandaikadu, the BJP is all set to appoint chairmen. In half a dozen other local bodies, the BJP is trying to win the chairman post by wooing independents.

The politics of Kanniyakumari is communally polarized with the Christians on the one side and the Hindus on the other. While a large majority of Hindus back the BJP, an equal number of Christians back the Congress pushing the major Dravidian parties, DMK and AIADMK to a corner.

The seeds of communal polarization of Kanniyakumari date back to 1962 when a group of people formed the Kanniyakumari committee to install a statue of Swami Vivekananda at a rock in the middle of the sea where he had meditated for three days.

However, the news of installing the statue was not taken in good faith by the local fishermen belonging to the Catholic faith. They put up a big cross visible from the shore that led to major protests by the Hindu community which stood firm that it was a worship site for the Hindus. A judicial probe also confirmed that it was a Hindu worship centre. The cross was removed in the secrecy of night and this sowed the first seed of communalism in Kanniyakumari.

While the seeds of communal division were sown by this incident, it was the Mandikadu riots in 1982 that became the turning point in the rise of BJP. According to a BJP narrative, Christians objected to Hindu women visiting Mandaikadu Bhagavathy Amman temple and taking baths close to the temple in the sea.

C. Velayudham who won the Padmanabapuram seat in 1996 for the BJP told IANS, “A Christian man chased women who were taking bath in the sea and two police inspectors who were posted as security opened fire. This police firing killed nine fishermen”.

However, Christian community leaders differed and said that this was false propaganda on the part of Hindu organisations. The situation at Mandaikadu turned volatile leading to a major communal polarization in the area.

Hindu Munnani was formed and in 1984, K.V. Balachandran contested as an independent with the backing of the Hindu Munnani and won the seat. However, the BJP had a formal entry into the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in 1996 through C. Velayudham.

Dr R. Padmanabhan, Political observer and Director of Socio-Economic Development Foundation, a think tank, told IANS, “The BJP went on to capitalize on the communal divide with the Christians and after the 1996 success, the party won the Lok Sabha seat of Nagercoil in 1999 and brought a few development projects thus consolidating its position. However, he lost in recent elections in 2019.”

However, Justin Antony of the International Fishermen Development Trust (Infidt) told IANS, “The BJP gaining by the votes of only Hindus is propaganda unleashed by vested interests. The BJP government of Narendra Modi is proactive in rescuing fishermen stranded overseas which has led to its support base growing among Christian fishermen.”

With the BJP working among the Hindu vote bank, it is also using the influence and power of the Central government to wean away Christians into its fold.

Dr Uma Maheswari, Political analyst told IANS, “BJP has got a firm ground in Kanniyakumari now and has done proper social engineering. It has the Hindu vote bank and is slowly entering into Christian hearts through the central government’s schemes.”