Blending caste with faith, BJP tries to open a space in Tamil Nadu

Jothi Pandian and Shiva Kumar, two young men who run a small office a couple of kilometres from the Saint Gobain glass factory, off the Chennai-Sriperumbudur highway, couldn’t agree if sitting Lok Sabha MP and DMK candidate DM Kathir Anand would retain his seat in Vellore, a neighbouring constituency.

Kathir Anand, 49, is the son of Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, a DMK veteran, who entered the state Assembly in 1971, and is a 10-time MLA. But this time, Kathir faces a tough battle and there are many factors at play – a big one being Prime Minister Narendra Modi and how his combative nominee and state BJP president K Annamalai has changed the party’s image in the state.

The BJP and its pronounced presence in the state is not lost on Jothi Pandian. “We are Vanniyars and our vote is for the Pattali Makkal Katchi (symbol: mango), which has tied up with BJP… What I personally believe is for us Vanniyars to prosper, Hindu religion has to survive and thrive,” he says, placing his community in the rubric of religion.

It is not the first time that the S Ramadoss-led PMK, which represents the Vanniyars and demands reservation for them, has allied with the BJP; in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections too, it was in an AIADMK-led alliance with the BJP.

Vanniyars have a significant presence in north Tamil Nadu in parliamentary constituencies such as Vellore, Arakkonam, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai. Jothi Pandian’s understanding of society structures, and his locating of the Vanniyar caste within the Hindu fold may appear quite simple at one level. But such social engineering that BJP is seen to be attempting in Tamil Nadu, the last frontier for the party which is perceived by many in the state