Tamil Nadu: 'We Have Done What No Other Party Has Done For Women', Says Annamalai

Speaking to Smita Prakash, on a podcast with Asian News International (ANI), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai said that the party had created history in the state’s politics by giving two women the post of district president for the first time.

He said that the post of district president has always been given to men because of the aggressive nature of politics in the state, which often turns into physical fights.

He was responding to a question regarding the narrative that has been created in the state that there is no scope for women in BJP. The narrative was spread by former BJP leader Gayathri Raguramm, who recently left the party after being suspended.

Elaborating on the all-male nature of district politics, he said that no party in the state has women district presidents. All parties, whether it is the DMK or the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) or the Congress or the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) or the Communist parties etc, have only male district presidents.

He added that these two women district presidents have done a wonderful job and are among the top 10 performers out of the 66 district presidents that the party has.

He said that Narendra Modi as Prime Minister has done a lot for women through schemes like Ujjwala, ban on triple talaq, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc. and so women of the state are looking up to him just like they saw former chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha.

Speaking of Jayalalitha, he said that she used to sweep the women's vote when she was alive except for a few times when she was dogged by corruption charges and now after her death, there is a vacuum and the BJP has the opportunity to fill that vacuum and capture the women's vote.

Regarding the importance of having woman district presidents, he said that if there are women on the ground, only then will women voters be able to connect to the party.

Going forward in the future, he said that he would like to have about 50 per cent of district presidents to be women as the women's vote would be extremely crucial for the party to come to power in the state.