Elections Modi 3.0

[chetak]

Meanwhile, some old memories are making their rounds on SM

Modi ji: Brothers and sisters, my friendship with Vijay has been very old.

[ricky_v]

[Rahul M]

Ground report from WB, people are absolutely fed up and if there's free and fair voting TMC will be devastated.
The point is that 'if'.
Public mood was against TMC in 2021 as well, although the level this time is unprecedented. 2011, when left was removed is the only parallel I can remember. Aam junta has started standing up to TMC goondas, which was unheard of few months back.

That said, TMC/IPAC still has lots of tricks up its sleeve to manipulate counting results and EC has not been able to counter all of them. BJP:110-170

Did I underestimate the BJP wave??

Just a little!

[ritesh]

May be the immaturity of voting public made bhajapa make Annamalai withdraw from running in last couple of elections. Might be they are looking for critical mass to appear to given it a serious charge.

[KL Dubey]

Fantastic results.

NDA headed to form sarkar in WB , AS, and PD.

A new dawn for northeastern bharat. Hopefully Viswasarma and Adhikari will make the bangla and northeast areas a powerhouse.

Looks like a good job in KL, most channels are now showing 3 seats for BJP. I think vote share will be significantly higher than 2021.

TN is very interesting now. DMK rascals thrashed. The immediate question is how TVK will form the sarkar, it is still short of 10 seats. Not sure how many seats BJP is getting. Maybe some small parties from the dravida alliance might switch to join sarkar.

Broader takeaways:

BJP successfully continues its mission of neutralizing family run and mafia parties.

As I said before, the battlegrounds will now mostly be in the south.

A Tale of Two Vijayans: one sinking on the west coast and the other rising on the east coast. In KL I hope the outdated ideology of communism has been dealt a death blow and its hindu vote transfers to the BJP. In TN, the situation is muddled, the realignments are hard to predict. It remains to be seen if the new TN sarkar has a good working relationship with GOI or if it becomes a den of abrahamic cretinism.

[A_Gupta]

Is there a Yogi Adityanath clone to head Bengal? Will anything less suffice?

[A_Gupta]

KL history:
1980–1982: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
1982–1987: UDF (K. Karunakaran)
1987–1991: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
1991–1996: UDF (K. Karunakaran/A.K. Antony)
1996–2001: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
2001–2006: UDF (A.K. Antony/Oommen Chandy)
2006–2011: LDF (V.S. Achuthanandan)
2011–2016: UDF (Oommen Chandy)
2016-2021: LDF (Pinarayi Vijayan)
2021-2026: LDF (Pinarayi Vijayan)
2026- : UDF

So, whether Communists are on their last legs, it will take more election cycles to know.

[chetak]

May be the immaturity of voting public made bhajapa make Annamalai withdraw from running in last couple of elections. Might be they are looking for critical mass to appear to given it a serious charge.

ritesh ji,


not withstanding their political persuasion and personal rivalries, both the dravida parties had ganged up to make sure that he was defeated. The jealousy, and the intense internal opposition to Annamalai in the TN BJP, was covert because all feared the wrath Modi ji and Mota bhai


last time, the voters in his constituency were paid 3 - 4 the normal rates in cash, along with a bumper hamper of household articles to make sure that he did not make it. It worked.

Annamalai lost his deposit in 2021


This time around, that very same thing would have happened and the two dravida parties would have ganged up once more because almost all TN politicos greatly fear him

A second consecutive loss would most probably have rendered Annamalai politically untouchable and the BJP has big plans for him

He speaks several languages and is an incorruptible ex IPS officer, highly educated and intelligent and has an impeccable reputation. He has an "intelligence" network that even today, would be the envy of a great majority of serving IPS officers

No one's secrets are hidden from him, and like any efficient policeman, he has informants in every nook and corner

The biggest issue is that Annamalai is from the same caste setup as several prominent and top AIADMK leaders with whom the BJP has aligned with for the elections

[chetak]

The take over has started.

There are already some reports of destruction of tender documents and many other sensitive papers and files



The West Bengal Bureaucracy seems to have already realised how ruthless the new Govt going to be towards the TMC.

The Bengal Chief Secretary has issued orders to all Dept Secretaries & Head of Offices to ensure that no important paper or file is removed or damaged or taken out from offices.

[chetak]

In Dec 2014, Mamata Banerjee asked, “Who is Amit Shah?”

After today’s results, she definitely knows very well who @AmitShah is…

Strategy, precision, and political acumen — that’s why many call him the “modern-day Chanakya.”

watch video



https://x.com/i/status/2051287677207711963

[Sachin]

The exceptions were Rajkumar from Karnataka or Rajnikanth who did not enter politics even though they had a huge connect!!

On this count; Rajkumar was way too smart (street-smart if I may say) NOT to enter politics. Because he knew if he joins one party, the other parties will pull him down. So he took a right decision. Be politically neutral, and carry on with the Kannada language & Kannada pride. That works with every one. Rajnikanth was actually a sissy who did not have the guts to enter politics. He made one or two meek attempts, but the moment DMK planned to scrutinise his money sources and assets he chickened out. Rajnikanth still has the BMTC conductor (he was one) mind-set when it comes to risk taking, apart from what ever gimmicks he did on the screen.

May be end up with 2 seats. 1 is assured.

BJP wins three seats in Keralam. Nemam, and Kazhakootam in Thiruvananthapuram, and Chathanoor in Kollam Dt. All three wins are in South Kerala (or in the old Travancore princely state). In Nemam; Rajeev Chandrashekar maintained a lead right from the start of counting. In Kazhakootam, K Muralidharan won by a whisker. Actually; I don't think even BJP thought they would win Chathanoor. In Kerala motor-mouths for the BJP used to be people like K Surendran, Sobha Surendran etc; all from Northern Kerala. They have lost this time as well.

As a question, what happens to pipsqueak parties like vaiko and others?

After LTTE and Prabhakaran is gone, VaiKo, Nedumaran (and to an extent Simon @ Seeman) all have gone into a radio silence mode.

[williams]

BJP strategy in TN does not make any sense. ADMK is a dravidian party with soft support for Tamil sub nationalism. BJP needs to stand in its own legs. Vijay crowd took over the anti-dravidian sentiment in TN now. IMO it is a lost opportunity.

[uddu]

'I Lost, But Bengal Won': Emotional BJP Leader Shatarupa On Saffronised Bengal | Results 2026

[uddu]

Century Scorer
'Bharat’s Victory': Himanta Biswa Sarma Slams Mamata For Blocking Border Fencing | Results 2026

[S_Madhukar]

Unless Annamalai becomes MLA it won’t work for his leadership. He needs to enter the assembly and use his wit and speech to showcase his leadership. He is more in Dev Fadnavis style I think, more cerebral and principled. He needs to become a proper TN politician IMO

[ricky_v]

Thanks for the response Sachin sir.
But damn, TN's election has thrown up a wild card in Indian politics after a long time. Vijay belongs to the era of ajit jogi, mamta, pawar, and yes to an extent the jdus, jds' and rjd's of the world, as in a new party and power centre only on the strength of charisma of 1 person.

Bjp in wb will proceed on expected lines, it is TN with its new entrant and dare I say it, a slightly unstable government, that has the potential to chart the most unexpected course and with the current state machinery. I don't know what the last time was when we had an unstable, supported from the outside type of government in the states, this is a result from bygone eras, recent times have dictated that results are outright.

Also, TN as a society seema to be doing alright, in all parameters it is a top3- top5 entrant, maybe some lag in agricultural produce. So what prompted the common TN person to declare that this was high time for a change? It's not a Hindu consolidation, bjp and friends have not performed spectacularly.

Maybe the margins and vote counts would portray a better clarity, aiadmk cut dmk and vice versa and tvk stole through.

[ricky_v]

Came across this while going through xitter, unintentional comedy

[Mukesh.Kumar]

Just saw BJP cross 156 won.

I can't believe my eyes. We have waited for this day for over three and a half decades. My uncles, my father were BJP supporters in West Bengal even before the Ram Janam Bhoomi movement. And like so many others they paid a price for this. Today, of 14 cousins, 11 of us are outside West Bengal.

First when the Left went, we thought, if not the BJP, then the TMC will bring development and close the borders. They didn't.

Today, when the results are coming out, I still can't believe that finally the BJP is winning in Bengal. I cannot explain what I feel. And there are many of us born in West Bengal, forced out with threat and harassment, who will breathe freer today.

I just cannot explain what I feel. I wish my father was still here to see this day.

[bala]

The main problem for a BJP driven foray into TN is that it is considered a "northern" party and is of no use to TN. TN wants a native who can be their leader and Vijay fits the bill. DMK toppling is a good thing for TN. Now it remains to be seen what Vijay can accomplish in terms of his rulership. If he is not anti-stringent like DMK was with Modiji then many things can move forward with ease. The bigger thing for all these leaders is to show that they are capable and can bring about change in a meaningful manner. Assam is a good example where leaders brought change and the anti-incumbency factor was nullified due to such change. Most states require good clean administration which means change in babucracy and its monitoring. A good leader needs to establish meaningful change and co-opt people along the journey. TN especially requires a drive towards cleanliness and discipline in general janata. The Coovum river is stark reminder of how basic urban facilities are lacking, no proper sewage control into the river. Much of the city of Chennai is on old urban infra, more than half the buildings are old and require demolish and rebuild. Traffic is becoming a nightmare as with other cities.

[chetak]

Unless Annamalai becomes MLA it won’t work for his leadership. He needs to enter the assembly and use his wit and speech to showcase his leadership. He is more in Dev Fadnavis style I think, more cerebral and principled. He needs to become a proper TN politician IMO

S_Madhukar ji,


One thinks that the BJP will bring him in via the centre, either through the RS or some such route. He will then be groomed to fit his intended role


Once in, he should be able to test the waters and acclimate to the local issues and develop rapport with important personalities and enter the ecosystem sans ripples


The BJP lacks southern leaders of calibre, which is why they are struggling in KAR and he is seen as a "लंबी रेस का घोड़ा"


he needs to acquire the political heft and the gravitas to ensure that he is taken seriously by other parties.


Right now, he is being wilfully and vengefully blocked by the AIADMK and that is limiting his options

[SivaR]

Answering to the question of anybody predicted the Vijay's win Tamilnadu, nobody except Congress has predicted this. They're a parasite in Tamilnadu politics and always draw blood from others to live. Due to this parasitic nature, they predicted this blood far early, but they're tied in hip with DMK in several illegal/corrupt activities for a very long time and could not break this easily and hence went along with DMK.
Regarding BJP, not able to perform in TN. The performance of the current/past BJP MLA's from the last two elections were piss poor and whoever leading the party in the state never bothered about it. As a leader, they should drive them to perform. As long as it is not happening, nothing will change especially if you're fighting well oiled dravidian party organisations.

[chetak]

The main problem for a BJP driven foray into TN is that it is considered a "northern" party and is of no use to TN. TN wants a native who can be their leader and Vijay fits the bill. DMK toppling is a good thing for TN. Now it remains to be seen what Vijay can accomplish in terms of his rulership. If he is not anti-stringent like DMK was with Modiji then many things can move forward with ease. The bigger thing for all these leaders is to show that they are capable and can bring about change in a meaningful manner. Assam is a good example where leaders brought change and the anti-incumbency factor was nullified due to such change. Most states require good clean administration which means change in babucracy and its monitoring. A good leader needs to establish meaningful change and co-opt people along the journey. TN especially requires a drive towards cleanliness and discipline in general janata. The Coovum river is stark reminder of how basic urban facilities are lacking, no proper sewage control into the river. Much of the city of Chennai is on old urban infra, more than half the buildings are old and require demolish and rebuild. Traffic is becoming a nightmare as with other cities.

bala saar,


This northern party thingee is just a cover, just like their so called opposition to hindi is. It is used to scare away the govts at the centre, and keep them all at bay so that the dravidas can do what they want to push their separatist agenda


The AIADMK's main interest in the BJP is their efficient laundry technology, along with their washing machine services that they hope to access to get their considerable sins washed away and forgotten for good.

In return, they will give this northern party j@ck$h!t. They forget that they are playing house with two lethal great whites, that are always circling hungrily.

mumtaz bano is now familiar with this species, especially the fatal damage that it has just caused her

the padres and the BIF just do not want any govt at the centre, either poking around or interfering with their nefarious separatist agenda that they have nurtured for some centuries now. The idea was implanted by a padre called caldwell who arrived in madras is 1838, and finally became the bishop of Tirunelveli who sold the snake oil that the dravidas were separate from the aryas

which is why both the dravida parties, in particular, are so very adamant that they will not have any national party MLAs as ministers in their state govts and their senior cops, babooze et al are all hand picked to serve this agenda. they saw what the centre did to the LTTE and their eelam agenda.

The separatist sentiment still has a strong undercurrent, no matter what anyone else may say, or even think, with the LTTE slowly raising their hideous head once again with the covert support of the politicos, padres, and many others in the state govt

[g.sarkar]

Aljazeera is complaining about ‘Hegemonic power" of Modiji, Allhumdullilah. Just love it. It would be great to read Western press react to this win, in their own unique way.
Gautam
See:
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026 ... first-time
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/01/asia/ind ... s-intl-hnk

[bala]

This northern party thingee is just a cover, just like their so called opposition to hindi is. It is used to scare away the govts at the centre, and keep them all at bay so that the dravidas can do what they want to push their separatist agenda

chetak saar,

I think the South is being careful of the "Northern" influence. TN, Keralam, Karnataka, Telengana, AP are clear examples of why BJP is not being embraced wholeheartedly. The AP model of Chandrababu Naidu aligned with BJP is the most that BJP can do for now. The others are in an INC embrace with the mad cap princeling in charge. BJP in the center has tapped people like Jaishankar and Nirmala but in the south they don't have political clout. We need to prevent states to fall into INC lap, which is really anti-India, pro china and pro SoreAss. Getting local leaders is step one and keeping them on your side is step two like AP. Good leadership is what voting people crave, parties etc are secondary.

The thing about BIF etc is a national issue which has many flavors including the Dravida kind. The fact that TN threw out DMK should be comforting for now.

The Bengal change has to be managed by BJP carefully, they need a Himanta like CM to solidify the gains in the state. A wholesale change needs to happen in W. Bengal and BD termites have to be thrown out for good. A widespread bundle of change is required in bengal.

[SRajesh]

Bala ji Sachinji and others
Have you noticed in TN this time around, a Party without Dravida in the name actually has won beating all others propogating Dravida ideology or otherwise.
As S Guruwsamy, the Editor of Tughlaq has mentioned, this a big shift in TN politics.
A long time since late Shri Kamarajji won as a Congress leader.
I have a feeling that this Dravida Atheist Polity (read anti Hindu , anti brahmin, anti Hindi) will die a slow death.
This is just a start yes. Vijay has been very smart. He has added Tamil in the party Name not Dravida, And has visited every place of worship.
His family's first visit to a place of worship after victory was a temple!!
It will take some time but Hindu identity will take root. Yes dharma will eventually prevail but will a Tamil language identity rather than a Dravida separatist, elitist ideology.
I hope I will be proved right in coming years!!

[bala]

Vijay's mother is actually Hindu, his father is Xtian and hence the upbringing of Vijay has both. His mother routinely visits temples in India and abroad and she is very down to earth. Vijay and his dad have issues. I think this hatred for Sanatan Dharma a la Udaynidhi Stalin is not the flavor for TVK. Vijay needs to induct modern systems of governance, he being from Loyola college in Chennai, can make it a priority. The Babucracy in TN requires to be given hard goals like achieve 10x type goals a la China. He needs to be a good task master and let things be achieved on time properly. A side note: he is separated from wife and now has Trisha the actress as his female companion. Cleaning up cities, towns, villages should be a priority, TN in general is dirtier than neighbors like Karnataka, Keralam.

[chetak]

This northern party thingee is just a cover, just like their so called opposition to hindi is. It is used to scare away the govts at the centre, and keep them all at bay so that the dravidas can do what they want to push their separatist agenda

chetak saar,

I think the South is being careful of the "Northern" influence. TN, Keralam, Karnataka, Telengana, AP are clear examples of why BJP is not being embraced wholeheartedly. The AP model of Chandrababu Naidu aligned with BJP is the most that BJP can do for now. The others are in an INC embrace with the mad cap princeling in charge. BJP in the center has tapped people like Jaishankar and Nirmala but in the south they don't have political clout. We need to prevent states to fall into INC lap, which is really anti-India, pro china and pro SoreAss. Getting local leaders is step one and keeping them on your side is step two like AP. Good leadership is what voting people crave, parties etc are secondary.

The thing about BIF etc is a national issue which has many flavors including the Dravida kind. The fact that TN threw out DMK should be comforting for now.

The Bengal change has to be managed by BJP carefully, they need a Himanta like CM to solidify the gains in the state. A wholesale change needs to happen in W. Bengal and BD termites have to be thrown out for good. A widespread bundle of change is required in bengal.

bala saar,


all the states you have mentioned have a higher than declared abrahamic population base

the BIF has only two flavours and both are abrahamic. Period

and the said flavours are consistent across geographies in India

If people think what happened in bengal was "just" an election, they would be very badly mistaken



some weeks the failed marshal made a statement threatening India: he said that this time the attack will come from the east.

Start from there


one could go into more detail but one is feeling lazy. Another time perhaps


did a state election really need India's HM and the PM together to spend so many days in bengal, did it happen when cashmere had the noose of art 370 removed by these very same two leaders


BTW, mumtaz bano has lost her seat in these elections and her opponent, suvendu adhikari has decimated her by 15K votes

the BJP has won just the game.........

The set and match are some long ways off, and the BIF will not give up easily

[bala]

BTW the official website on election. Tis final except for a very few still leading to be accepted as Won.
The devastation in Bengal is sight to behold.

https://results.eci.gov.in/ResultAcGenMay2026/index.htm

[Cyrano]

Annamalai's case is a strange case. His qualifications, competencies, articulation and commitment are obvious to anyone. I've been hearing this destined for bigger things for a few years now. The only explanation I can think of is that everyone sees him as a serious threat and he has as many people pulling him down outside as inside.

[TKiran]

Vijay Joseph is crypto Christian and his ideology is more Dravidian than Dravidians.

His ideology is to eliminate Sanatan without saying it. Actually Dravidian ideology has percolated to the youth of Tamilnadu in the last 10 years ever since Jayalalitha died.

One has to understand what Dravidian ideology is and what the Tamilnadu youth thinks.

Dravidian ideology:
1. Dravidian s used to live in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. They are dark in complexion. They were seculars. That is why Indus valley civilization doesn't have any caste heirarchy or kings. All are equal. In other words Secular. They do not follow fire rituals, such as "yagnas" as there were no yagya related evidence found in Indus valley civilization. There were no kings or caste based hierarchy in indus valley civilisation.

The Brahmins who are white complexioned invaded them and drove them away down south. Whoever remained back in North, they called them "Dalits" and even today they clean toilets in North India. Whoever is black in North India is actually a Dravidian. MS Dhoni is a Dravidian living in North India. His forefathers were toilet cleaners for Aryans.

Whoever was left there if they had good travelling by sea experience and were good at calculations and business and finance and were doing business with Mesopotamia Egypt and Rome and were bootlickers of Aryans were given a better social status than Dalits and were called Banias. Mukesh Ambani is a Dravidian.

Dravidians were advanced in civilization and were able to build gigantic structures which could last several millennia. That's why you can see so many temples in south India. There are no temple of extravagance in north India. Dravidian s were advanced in language and they had script. Their literature is totally different from North India. For example, Kannagi's story in Silappadhigaram shows sophisticated Judiciary, security apparatus and justice.

Only problem with Dravidian s is that they did not have religion. Which was also solved by Apostle Thomas, who taught Thiruvallur the Ten Commandments. Thiruvalluvar put the ten commandments in the form of thirukkural. But by this time, all the Dravidian S switched to Buddhism. So Dravidians combined ten commandments and also buddhism ala pure seculars.

But later cunning Aryans came in the form of Brahmins and converted gigantic structures into temples. They defeated Buddhism and converted the Dravidians into Sanatanis. Notable is Aryan is Adi Shankaracharya in 800's. But still the Dravidians have secularism in their genes. They respect all the religions do not consider one religion superior to the other ala North Indians.

The Aryans wrote in their literature that Rama who is a blue coloured Aryan came down to south india, and they saw all the south indians as monkeys. They killed Ravana who was a noble king of Dravidian origine. They call ravanas mom as rakshasi just because she was Dravidian. Aryans call all the Dravidians as rakshsas, just like they call all muslims are terrorists now a days.

The Aryans wrote literature showing all Dravidians are black barbarians.

Aryans always want to look down upon Dravidians through cultural invasion. Imposition of Sanskrit and Hindi.

All these things were told to me by my daughters, and I was shocked. They were looking for a Dravidian who is not sanatani but takes pride in Jallikattu as Dravidian culture, just like Velupillai Prabhakaran when he was young. They want someone who can say that bharatanatyam is secular and promote Christian bharatanatyam as Dravidian culture etc...

There's much more to this ideology more scary.

As I am sleepy, I want to conclude that Joseph Vijay is more dangerous than Stalin.

He is more dangerous than Jagan, as the people of tamilnadu and its youth completely subscribes to this ideology. They hate Rama. Joseph Vijay already clarified that his ideology is exactly opposite of BJP

[V_Raman]

guys - get over this crypto christian stuff - TN is more hindu than any of you can comprehend.

[bala]

bhai sahabs, this cock'n'bull about Dravidian theory has been negated many times and is not worthy of any repetition. This Aryan vs Dravidian nonsense is simply an Abrahmic agenda and of course Britshits started this stuff.

Apostle Thomas, saint thomas is a pure concoction. Even the Pope said some years back that Apostle Thomas did not come to India. The current santhome (saint thomas) area on the beach in Chennai was a temple to Shiva which was destroyed by the portuguese. The Indians hurriedly moved the shiva lingam to Mylapore, the current kapaleeshwarar temple.

[KL Dubey]

KL history:
1980–1982: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
1982–1987: UDF (K. Karunakaran)
1987–1991: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
1991–1996: UDF (K. Karunakaran/A.K. Antony)
1996–2001: LDF (E.K. Nayanar)
2001–2006: UDF (A.K. Antony/Oommen Chandy)
2006–2011: LDF (V.S. Achuthanandan)
2011–2016: UDF (Oommen Chandy)
2016-2021: LDF (Pinarayi Vijayan)
2021-2026: LDF (Pinarayi Vijayan)
2026- : UDF

So, whether Communists are on their last legs, it will take more election cycles to know.

There was no significant BJP/NDA in the picture before 2016, so the UDF and LDF could simply switch with each other without much change. Each had their own vote banks.

Now the BJP vote share in VS 2026 is 12%. There are dynamic leaders/organizers like Rajeev C plus strong push from central leadership. This creates a destabilizing effect on the old arrangements. As BJP grows, the LDF (weakened from this large defeat by the UDF and IUML) may be decimated. The UDF + IUML in KL is basically like the TMC in WB.

Even in the present election, the 3 seats won by BJP (all in Travancore, i.e. south KL) were at the expense of LDF runner-ups.

[A_Gupta]

^^^ from your lips to the voters’ ears!

[Mukesh.Kumar]

One more thing. In a way it's the Left parties who triggered the avalanche that brought down Mamata.

It was R.G. Kar, that broke the trust of women voters, young neutrals and even old left leaning 'bhodrolok' in Calcutta.

And the truth is that unless the Left affiliated young doctors had stopped the hearse and forced an autopsy, media and people would not have been able to see the drama. This could have been consigned as another atrocity, out of sight, out of mind. The autopsy, the push back from TMC and Mamata's arrogance became the focus of a simmering discontent.

The BJP still could have won without this. But yes, R G Kar did play a role in turning people against Mamata quietly but decisively.

[KL Dubey]

As for TN, there is now a mountain of evidence that the BJP/NDA experiment with the post-Amma AIADMK is a total failure.

First these fellows (EPS, OPS, TTV and other alphabet soup jokers) quarreled amongst themselves, making the public see all the dirty laundry. None of them has any significant achievements or inspirational quality. Then they would not allow Annamalai to have a free hand and imposed absurd conditions on the BJP.

At this point, I think the BJP should completely disengage from AIADMK, along with any AIADMK fellows who want to come along and of some value, plus maybe a couple of the small parties.

Annamalai should be given free hand to grow the party in TN.

[KL Dubey]

TN is more hindu than any of you can comprehend.

Yes, but...

TN (and to an extent, KL) has a very parochial form of hinduism that in recent times (esp. through machinations of the "dravidian" movement) has become disconnected from akhand bharat. This does not include the brahmans, who of course are the "enlighteners" and hence excluded wholesale from politics in TN by the dravida parties.

While this brand of hinduism is culturally rich in its own right, it is not politically productive for the BJP unless some more prep work is done. Annamalai is the first poltu to forcefully inform TN people that their own brand of hinduism is under attack from elements within (X-men, red men, moon men etc), which they camouflage by a constant barrage of "north/hindi invasion" accusations. The rascal U. Stalin gave away the game with his comments on sanatana dharma.

Anecdotally I have seen many educated Tamils vehemently argue that shiva, rama, krishna etc are all from TN and not from himalayas and UP. One such family went on a tour to holy cities of north india (kashi, ayodhya, vrindavan, mathura) and came back shocked to realize that shiva is a himalayan deity and rama/krishna were UPwallahs.

[sanjaykumar]

I don’t know about that.

All I can say to Tamils is, ‘welcome home’.

[Cyrano]

guys - get over this crypto christian stuff - TN is more hindu than any of you can comprehend.

In this type of discussions facts don't matter. Young generations have grown up with "narratives" not truth. Sanatais have to be careful about scorpions under every stone. We oldies better pay heed to the narratives out there however stupid they may be and counter them actively, each time, every day. It will be a long, never ending battle.

[KL Dubey]

Is there a Yogi Adityanath clone to head Bengal? Will anything less suffice?

Why assume that only a sanyasi can do it? Suvendu Adhikari has been working diligently and firmly resisted TMC goons without any fear. Also he is not a grhastha (no wife/children).