The list of Rajya Sabha nominations by the Narendra Modi government seems in sync with the politics of symbolism that the BJP has attempted in recent times.

The four nominations—all from South India—follow a template that the party has by now repeatedly put in place and perfected. And, in many cases, this template has also paid rich dividends to the BJP.

Kerala-born international athlete PT Usha, renowned Tamil music composer Ilaiyaraaja, famous Andhra Pradesh scriptwriter KV Vijayendra Prasad and Karnataka’s Prasad Veerendra Heggade, head of the famous Dharmasthala temple in Karnataka, are the four government nominees to the Upper House of Parliament.

Having dominated northern, western and central India, and having made significant inroads into the east, the BJP is now aiming at a better showing in South India, where it has been able to win no state except Karnataka.

All four nominees are iconic figures and have a reach beyond their states. Ilaiyaraaja is also a Dalit, which makes the symbolism all the more powerful.

The template is characteristic of the Narendra Modi era in the BJP. The party in the last few years made pointed attempts to increase the representation of social groups beyond its traditional vote base as a gesture.

It chose Ramnath Kovind, a Dalit, as the President of India. It has now fielded Draupadi Murmu, a tribal, as the next President of India. It increased OBC representation in various elections and also twice made OBC leaders deputy chief ministers of the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh.

The last Cabinet expansion in the Modi government also saw above 50 percent representation to Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, and the government made it a point to convey that it had expanded the representation of marginal social groups. Even in the recently-appointed Council of Ministers in UP, three Dalit women were appointed ministers for the first time.

Election results over the last few years have suggested that these symbolic gestures by the party have borne fruit. Data from CSDS showed that the party’s vote base among Dalits, tribals and OBCs has constantly been on the rise in various elections. In the recent Uttar Pradesh polls, the party’s non-Yadav OBC vote went up to 65 percent, CSDS data showed.

The one geographical stretch the BJP has not been able to breach is South India. It has won Karnataka a few times and has also begun to expand its presence in Telangana in recent times, even if it has not been able to come to power in the state. It won four seats in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls— up from just one in 2014—and defeated the TRS in the Huzurabad assembly by-polls in November 2021.

But its record in Tamil Nadu, the traditional hub of the Dravidian movement, Kerala—a southern state with a significant Muslim and Christian population and a polity divided between the Left and the Congress—and Andhra Pradesh has not been impressive. In the Badvel assembly by-poll in Andhra as late as November, 2021, the YSR Congress had defeated it with a comfortable margin.

With all four Rajya Sabha nominees being illustrious people from South Indian states, the party seems to be looking to breach southern states as well.

The road to South India will still be long and the task of electorally capturing it arduous, but the intent is unmistakable. Even at its recent national executive meeting in Hyderabad, the party identified South India as the region for its next phase of expansion. However, the party would have to consciously underplay its ‘Hindi-centric’ image in these states and induct popular leaders in its ranks to improve its performance there.

—The author Vikas Pathak is a columnist and media educator. The views expressed here are personal.

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(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)

First Published:Jul 9, 2022 3:56 PM IST