From the margins to momentum: BJP’s journey in Tamil Nadu

Explore the BJP's evolving presence in Tamil Nadu, from initial struggles to recent momentum in upcoming elections.

The BJP has struggled to establish a foothold on its own in Tamil Nadu, where politics has been dominated by the Dravidian majors for more than five decades, but the party has gained momentum in the State in recent years.

The BJP was long viewed as a “North Indian” party, with the Dravidian majors, particularly the DMK, carefully constructing a narrative portraying the BJP as a political outsider in the State.

In its initial years, the BJP’s presence in Tamil Nadu was limited to certain pockets. The party relied heavily on the members and ideological backing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). A series of communal clashes at Mandaikadu in Kanniyakumari district in 1982 led to considerable demographic polarisation and provided an opening for Hindutva politics in that region. In the 1984 Assembly election, V. Balachandran, an independent candidate backed by the Hindu Munnani, won the Padmanabhapuram seat with 28,465 votes, defeating M. Vincent of the AIADMK by a margin of 4,317 votes.

Most BJP candidates polled only several hundred to a few thousand votes in that election, but M.R. Gandhi, who contested from Colachel, secured over 32,000 votes, losing by just 589 votes. This result reflected how Hindutva politics was gaining ground in the district, which shares boundaries with Kerala, a State where politics is dominated by national parties. Mr. Gandhi is now the MLA representing Nagercoil.

The BJP has made repeated attempts to win Padmanabhapuram and other Assembly segments in Kanniyakumari district. C. Velayuthan, a local face of the BJP, tried his luck several times and finally succeeded in 1996, becoming the BJP’s first MLA in Tamil Nadu. He defeated the DMK’s Bala Janathipathy by 4,540 votes, braving a pro-DMK-TMC wave. In the same election, the BJP also secured the second position in Nagercoil, Colachel, and Killyoor in the district.

By the turn of the millennium, the BJP had tasted more success by aligning with the AIADMK and DMK during the 1998 and 1999 parliamentary polls, respectively. In 2001, joining hands with the DMK, four of its candidates entered the Assembly: H. Raja from Karaikudi, Jaga Veerapandian from Mayiladuthurai, K.V. Muralidharan from Thalli, and K.N. Lakshmanan from Mylapore. Contesting in 21 seats, the party secured a vote share of 3.19%.