Chennai: With normal elections simply over a yr away and meeting polls in 2026, political events in Tamil Nadu have lined up a flurry of outreach workouts, the preferred amongst them being the padayatra (foot march).
“It is going to be a precursor to 2024 and 2026 elections,” state BJP chief Okay. Annamalai, who is about to embark on a statewide padayatra in April, advised ThePrint. However the IPS officer-turned-politician’s foot march is just not the one one on the town. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), an ally of the BJP, has comparable plans and so does the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK).
Tamil Nadu has a protracted historical past of padayatras, ranging from C. Rajagopalachari’s Vedaranyam Satyagraha in 1930 to protest the salt tax levied by the British — a motion impressed by Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March — for which he was arrested and imprisoned for six months.
Then there was Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch M. Karunanidhi’s Madurai-Tiruchendur foot march in 1982, which got here to be often known as the ‘Needhi kettu nedumpayanam (lengthy march in search of justice)’. As chief of the opposition on the time, Karunanidhi demanded justice for Subramania Pillai, an official of the Hindu Non secular and Charitable Endowments Division (HR&CE) who was discovered useless beneath mysterious circumstances in 1980.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) chief Vaiko too made headlines in 2013 along with his foot march from Madurai to Cumbum to demand prohibition within the state. Through the padayatra, Vaiko even had an opportunity encounter with then CM J. Jayalalithaa, who stepped out of her automotive and requested him, “Why are you straining your self a lot?”
Political commentators, nonetheless, are of the opinion that the idea of padayatras as a approach to woo the plenty, particularly the current technology, has turn into outdated within the period of social media, and there’s a dire want for progressive campaigning.
“A padayatra can enhance the recognition of the chief embarking on it,” political researcher Raveenthran Duraisamy advised ThePrint, however added that it “doesn’t assure that you’ll win or will have the ability to translate the recognition into votes”.
Additionally Learn: Poaching conflict deepens rift between BJP & AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, however events say ‘dedicated to alliance’
Padayatras galore
Annamalai is just not the one chief within the Tamil Nadu BJP betting on padayatras to shore up help for the celebration. In January, Vanathi Srinivasan — BJP MLA from Coimbatore South — took half in a 110 km-long march from Coimbatore to Palani.
Hers was a “non secular” journey that concluded on the Palani Murugan temple, thought of one of many six abodes of Muruga (Karthikeya). Srinivasan advised ThePrint that her padayatra had three targets: “to thank the lord for serving to her get elected, to wish for the BJP’s growth in Tamil Nadu, and to wish for the lengthy lifetime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
As for Annamalai, his padayatra in April is about to coincide with a foot march to be carried out by actor Gayathri Raghuram, who ended her eight-year stint with the BJP in January after she confronted a six-month suspension for “bringing disrepute to the celebration”. In her resignation letter, she had claimed that the state unit didn’t give “alternative for an enquiry, equal rights and respect for girls”.
“My padayatra from Chennai to Kanyakumari will start on the identical day as Annamalai’s yatra and it’ll go on for 40 days,” Gayathri advised ThePrint. The concept behind it, she added, is to unfold consciousness about ladies’s rights and spotlight the necessity for 30 per cent illustration for girls in parliamentary and meeting elections.
Requested why she selected to start her padayatra across the similar time as Annamalai’s, Gayathri stated she needed to deliver consideration to the “injustices” performed to her. Clarifying that she is just not against the BJP, she stated, “There are a number of complaints (of girls celebration staff not being handled correctly) throughout the BJP and I don’t know what number of are taken severely or what number of have been appeared into.”
In the meantime, Anbumani Ramadoss, Rajya Sabha MP and president of BJP-ally PMK, is planning a padayatra to demand revival of the Noyyal river. PMK founder S Ramadoss (83) too had carried out a march in February — by automotive — within the title of defending Tamil language and tradition. A detailed aide of Anbumani stated, “A number of extra padayatras will comply with this yr.”
In the meantime, Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) chief Okay. Veeramani has introduced his plans to tour the state, although not on foot, to unfold the message of social justice and propagate the Dravidian ideology.
Oppn events ‘bereft of concepts’
Professor Ramu Manivannan, head of the division of politics and public administration on the College of Madras, stated padayatras are a tactic usually utilized by the opposition to mobilise anti-incumbency. A padyatra, he added, has a “perspective and a symbolic resonance to it”.
Duraisamy, quoted earlier, believes that the face of the padayatra is as vital because the foot march itself. Together with his Bharat Yatra in 1983, Chandra Shekhar tried to challenge himself as the choice to Indira Gandhi, he defined. Equally, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s 1,500 km padayatra in 2003 and Vasundhara Raje Scindia’s in 2018 appeared that they have been essentially the most appropriate political various in undivided Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively.
“However they have been all leaders who already had a major help base, who have been opposition leaders. Those that will not be various forces, their recognition will enhance and that’s about it,” stated Duraisamy.
Based on Manivannan, for the youth, padayatras will not be the popular means for mass mobilisation in right now’s social media age. “Earlier, throughout marches like these, folks from totally different political events used to return. However now, solely folks from the identical celebration because the chief are those who come for the stroll or encompass the chief.”
Vanathi Srinivasan, who can be president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, added that the idea of padyatras is an accepted “mass mobilisation and mass contact” measure which does have an effect in the long term. Referring to her foot march to Palani, she stated the train left cadres “energised and was an immense alternative to determine a join between the leaders, staff, and voters”.
Whereas foot marches by politicians are nonetheless recent within the creativeness of the Indian voter, political analysts imagine the present state of affairs in Tamil Nadu exhibits opposition events are “bereft of concepts”.
Within the 90s, Jayalalithaa’s convoy-based campaigning grew to become in style, the place the chief would traverse distant villages and tackle supporters from contained in the automobile. This got here at a time when political events have been used to public conferences.
Analysts stated this type of new progressive politics is now lacking. As Duraisamy put it, “If a padayatra have been a way to victory, then everyone would embark on a foot march.”
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Additionally Learn: Why Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai traded within the quiet life he dreamt of for ‘poisonous’ politics