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Modi manifesto promises the world to the Tamil people

The latest thrust on Tamil Nadu and its culture is part of Modi’s prolonged focus on garnering votes from Tamil Nadu where his party has had negligible presence so far. The state sends 39 members to the Parliament.

By Sriram Iyer
April 14, 2024, 11:06:20 AM IST (Published)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra has promised to promote Tamil, one of the world’s oldest languages, as part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto, also called sankalp patra, for the upcoming election to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Indian Parliament).

Thiruvalluvar cultural centres will be set up to elevate the global reputation for Tamil.

The latest thrust on Tamil is part of Modi’s focus on garnering votes from Tamil Nadu where his party has had negligible presence so far. The state sends 39 members to the Parliament.

Modi has visited Tamil Nadu at least seven times in the last two months. The state has, arguably, received an inordinate amount of attention from the Prime Minister who is seeking to increase the BJP’s Lok Sabha tally to beyond 370 out of the total 543 in the Lok Sabha.

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Who is Thiruvalluvar?

Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was an ancient Tamil philosopher known for his wisdom, expressed in 1,330 couplets, on a topics ranging from ethics to economics.

Non-violence is one of the pervasive messages in the Thirukkural, the compilation of Thiruvalluvar’s works. Various estimates date the works between the third and sixth century BC.

The prefix Thiru before the name is usually added as a mark of respect, like Shri in other parts of India.

Modi has been reaching out to the voters in Tamil Nadu for a few years now.

The Hindu identity politics and nationalism that helped BJP become the juggernaut it is in other states of India do not work as well in Tamil Nadu, where the Tamil identity rings louder.

At the 74th session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Modi had recited a 3,000-year-old Tamil quote by philosopher Kaniyan Pungundranar to highlight India’s commitment to inclusive policies.

In January 2022, the PM inaugurated the new campus of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil in Chennai.

Modi has released various translations of the Thirukkural including one in Gujarati as well as Tok Pisin language of Papua New Guinea.

In 2021, the ‘Subramania Bharati Chair’ on Tamil Studies was set up at the Banaras Hindu University in his home constituency, Varanasi.

Subramaniam Bharati is arguably the most famous modern poet from Tamil Nadu known for his revolutionary spirit and progressive views that inspired the freedom struggle in Tamil Nadu.

During his visit to Tokyo, Modi put the spotlight on silk mats made in Pattamadai (part of the Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu) by giving it as a gift to his Japanese counterpart.

Modi’s outreach, combined with the party’s promotion at the grassroots by the state party chief K Annamalai, is likely to provide a BJP a significant jump in its vote share in Tamil Nadu in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

However, these additional votes may not necessarily result in more Lok Sabha seats for the BJP. The opinion poll released by Network18 in March 2024 showed that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, may get 5 seats in the state.

The NDA may have been weakened by the exit of a long-term ally, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) ahead of the polls.

The more entrenched rival, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (fighting in alliance with BJP’s national rival, the Indian National Congress) may still get the lion’s share of seats in Tamil Nadu, according to the same poll.