In social media and TV quite often we hear that Annamalai is going to bring a sea change for the BJP in Tamil Nadu. However, I believe most such assertions on Annamalai are from the BJP IT cell or from the diehard party supporters who desperately want to build up his visibility and a perception that he is an extraordinary class of leader. Whereas the ground reality could be far from the truth. Why am I saying so? Let's look at some of the BJP state leadership. One of the top-level frontline leader state leaders of the BJP - Himanta Biswa Sarma, is from the Congress, and Suvendu Adhikari is from TMC. BJP has not been able to produce a top-notch leader in Assam and Bengal. Could not produce a CM face in Bihar despite being a Hindi-speaking state. The same for Jharkhand. Delhi is another Hindi-speaking state where the BJP has failed to produce a CM face. Even after 44 years of the formation of the BJP, 74 years of Jana Sangha formation, and 100 years of RSS formation, the saffron party is every time falling short of leaders and has to depend on hunting and poaching of leaders from other parties.
Image of Hurricane Katrina
Whether Annamalai can change the fate of the BJP in Tamil Nadu in 2024 or not will be clear on 4th June. We do not have to wait long. So have your patience. Nobody can answer your question in a realistic manner. People may argue that BJP has produced firebrand leaders like Yogi Adityanath. But Yogi Adityanath is a 5 times MP, a seasoned politician in electoral politics since 1998. Secondly, Yogi Adityanath has not changed BJP's picture singe-handedly in UP. BJP already had a sizable base. BJP was not declared CM face in 2017. The 2022 assembly election was also fought with Modi Ji’s face. Plus it took Yogi Adityanath twenty years of electoral politics to become CM. It took HBS twenty years of electoral politics to become CM of Assam. It took Mamata 25 years of electoral politics to bring TMC into power in Bengal and become CM. If you consider HBS, Yogi, and Mamata as some benchmarks of political leadership, then just think that they also needed 20–25 years of active politics to become CM
And you expect yesterday’s boy Annamalai to change the fate of the BJP in a big state like Tamil Nadu in 2024 single-handedly in just 2–3 years of electoral politics? If it really happens then he would be equivalent to Hurricane Katrina. He would be termed the wonder boy of Indian politics. As of now, it looks quite unseemingly. Do you really want us to believe that a person who is yet to win an assembly election will change the fate of the BJP in Tamil Nadu? It has to be an absolute miracle, defying all political mathematics and equations.
Former IAS, IPS, and IFS joining politics has not been anything new in Indian politics. But I am not being able to recollect any names of former officers who have turned up to be a great political leader. The biggest example of an officer reaching the highest level is Dr. Manmohan Singh. But he is no political leader. So honestly speaking I do not find any rationale behind such questions and expectations from Annamalai. Before him, so many IAS, IPS, and IFS officers have joined the game of politics, but we all know the level they have reached. We have our very own iconic Kiran Bedi, we know about her journey in politics.
I strongly believe the kind of hype BJP and its IT cell are trying to create about Annamalai is totally unfounded and designed only to mislead people. It is not possible unless the BJP has some other means of making this happen. Otherwise, if the BJP had known the formula of producing champions overnight - it would have produced CM face for Delhi, Bengal, and Bihar on its own. It would not have gulped and swallowed Nitish Kumar’s tantrum every time helplessly.
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