Coimbatore Yearning For Change: Tejasvi Surya Upbeat On Annamalai Securing Big Win

With Tamil Nadu edging close to polling for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a clarion call went out to voters in Coimbatore to elect “one of our own" — the common man’s leader who worked his way up to capture the imagination of the community.

This election is all about the aspirations of a new India, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from Karnataka, Tejasvi Surya, who was on an election campaign in Coimbatore on 12 April, to extend his solidarity for K Annamalai, state president of Tamil Nadu BJP, who is bracing for a high-stakes battle in Coimbatore constituency.

He participated, along with Shefali Vaidya, writer and social media influencer, in a town hall event, titled, SpotLite, organised by the Verandah Club, Coimbatore.

He took questions from about 500 first-time voters and influencers during this event.

Speaking to Swarajya on a wide range of issues, Surya said, people in the state are yearning for a change, and there is a sense of optimism and positivity among them, and phenomenal enthusiasm among the BJP cadre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s engagement with the state, and his numerous visits, reinforces his belief in the potential of the state, and this will have a positive impact on the people’s mindset.

“The Prime Minister is a sincere ambassador for the Tamil culture worldwide, and has huge respect for this land, its tradition and language,” Surya said.

The scepticism about BJP is slowly giving way to acceptance, the BJP leader said, “a lot of testing happens before acceptance in Tamil Nadu”.

Calling Coimbatore an economic bright spot in Tamil Nadu, Surya listed strong reasons why the second largest city of the state must choose a candidate who can work in close tandem with the central government to channel development initiatives for the state.

Surya, who was successful in setting up a National Investigation Agency (NIA) centre, an SBI startup branch, and a cybercrime police station in Bengaluru, said that similar establishments are top priority for Annamalai.

Women, especially, stand to benefit from such initiatives, that will go a long way in making them realise their entrepreneurial potential, and guaranteeing their safety and dignity in a digital era where they have increasingly become vulnerable to online crimes.

Describing Annamalai as a guardian angel of women in Coimbatore, Surya said his ability to deliver, having been a former administrator and top cop, is immense.

As the state chief of the BJP, it is but natural that Annamalai will adopt his party’s penchant for corruption-free governance and a sustainable economic model, if placed at the helm of the city’s administration, Surya said.

While saying that Annamalai represents hope, Surya stressed that he has built the party ground up in Tamil Nadu. He has set his sights on larger goals, and his vision for the state is progressive, aspirational and development-oriented — a vision that people will be able to appreciate.

The opposition parties are nervous as Annamalai has challenged them by injecting the Modi model of performance-based politics into the Dravidian ecosystem that is hanging on to divisive chauvinism and caste narrative to operate.

“The youth, especially, have realised that investing in him is investing in their future,” Surya said.

Urging the need for electoral reforms, he said unless the entry barrier to politics is shattered, new generation of leaders with a sense of purpose will find it difficult to participate in nation-building.

“Competitive politics is expensive, and a huge challenge, the reason why electoral reforms are crucial, and BJP’s ‘one nation one election’ proposal is a monumental step in this direction,” he said.

Electoral reforms will enable inclusive political participation and empower grassroots workers to assume leadership roles, and these reforms must be part of an institutional, systemic culture, he said.

Drawing parallels between the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the Congress in Karnataka, Surya said both reek of dynastic politics, and emblematic of deep-seated corruption. Good governance is not their priority but engineering divisiveness in society for political gains, is, he said.

Explaining the challenges the BJP state units face in both these states, Surya said: While the BJP in Karnataka has a robust organisation, leadership and reach at all levels, Tamil Nadu has to build grassroots leaders, with an additional burden of countering the more vicious DMK media ecosystem.

Responding to the setback for the BJP’s setback in the 2023 assembly elections in Karnataka, Surya said that national elections are different; voters will favour a strong leader with a vision, they will look for progress, stability and policy continuity.

In this arena, the opposition parties have no face, no cadre nor a leader. They are a confused lot with no clarity or purpose, similar to the ‘multi-taste’ dish, ‘chow chow bath’.

For all these reasons, the people are going to overwhelmingly vote for the BJP across the nation, this election, he said.

“It will be a vote for PM Modi, and the development model the party represents,” he said.

The BJP’s alternative to poll sops and freebies is economic empowerment and sustenance, Surya said. The shining example is ‘PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana’ under which households will be able to save money on their electricity bills while also earning more money by selling surplus electricity to power distribution companies (DISCOMs).

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex crossed the 75,000-mark on 9 April, signalling new hopes, he said.

Surya said he is an example for the youth for legitimate wealth creation in India, the world’s fastest growing major economy.

While headlines screamed that his assets have grown 30 times in his tenure as an MP, Surya said most of his income is from a law firm of which he is a founding member and managing partner, and which he started in 2017.

“Since politicians from middle-class backgrounds don’t inherit large real estate, they need a sustainable legitimate source of income to survive, so that their integrity stays intact,” he said.

Underlining the importance of investments, he said that financial literacy is a life skill that the youth of the country must acquire. Thanks to the bourgeoning economy, mutual funds and stocks are good sources of investment.

New hopes lie in the young voter, rural or urban, who share the same aspirations and which encourage them to see through instant gratification strategies, said the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha president, who garnered his inferences from the engagement with this community of voters during tours he has undertaken across the country.

“The Prime Minister speaks the Gen-z language and easily connects with them, a recent example being the interaction with the gamers,” Surya said.

He virtually interacted with first-time voters across 5,000 locations in India — NaMo Navmatdata Sammelan — on 25 January, arguably the world’s largest gathering of first-time voters.

“The youth have started to appreciate a political discourse that has not been built on caste or communal lines.”

At the same time, it is important to address voter apathy, and infuse in voters the value of exercising their franchise, he said.

“Voter apathy contributes to a vicious cycle, and it is important to break it.”

The BJP will step into this monumental democratic exercise with hopes of achieving its pan-India aspirations in substantial measure, he said.

“People will vote overwhelmingly for Prime Minister Modi, not just in Karnataka, but all over the country, including Tamil Nadu,” Surya said vociferously.

Surya, who said that Annamalai will be by his side in the run-up to the elections in Karnataka, is positive and hopeful of an outcome that matters to every progressive Indian.

Also Read: There's A Path To Victory For Annamalai In Coimbatore

This report is part of Swarajya's 50 Ground Stories Project - an attempt to throw light on themes and topics that are often overlooked or looked down. You can support this initiative by sponsoring as little as ₹2999. Click here for more details.