Assembly Election: According to the 2011 census, Tamil Nadu has a total population of about 7.21 crores. In which the Scheduled Caste population is 20.01 percent of the total population. On the other hand, if we look at the figures of the voters of the state, the total number of voters in Tamil Nadu is about 6 crores. In this, 18 percent of the voters come from the scheduled castes.
K. Palaniswami, Amit Shah, MK Stalin
Decades had been made on the face in Tamil Nadu for decades. But when the faces are missing from the elections this time, caste equations have taken its place. Every political party is ready to try all kinds of maneuvers to ensure its victory. Therefore, ethnic issues are also being raised with lot of noise in this election. Political parties are engaged in securing different castes according to their convenience. In fact, in this assembly elections, there are no two major faces of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi who have been holding elections here for decades, so now the DMK, AIADMK and all political parties are struggling to win the election. This is the reason that this time we are seeing more than one issue in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections.
At the same time, the public is also rising above the politics of faces and voting on the basis of caste equations on the lines of UP-Bihar. Experts believe that when the results of the assembly elections are out on May 2, the equation of votes cast on the basis of caste will definitely be seen in it.
However, in the political struggle of Tamil Nadu, the Bharatiya Janata Party first started to practice caste equations when it named the Devendra Kula Vellalar, including the 7 sub-castes of Vellalar, Devendrakulam, Kudumban, Pannadi Kalady, Kadayan, Pallan and Pathariya. Which is creating a new electoral equation in the state. BJP is trying to give them a separate identity in its court. The ruling AIDMK main opposition party DMK and Kamal Haasan’s party Makkal Nidhi Mayyam have also started their way as soon as the Bharatiya Janata Party started to collect the caste equations in Tamil Nadu.
In the last Lok Sabha election, the game was played by caste equations
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, where the Bharatiya Janata Party under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi had done well in the whole country, in Tamil Nadu, it also managed to win 1 seat. The seat was that of Kanyakumari, from where Radhakrishnan of BJP won. The BJP had the support of Christian community, fishermen and 4 communities here. Nadar caste, Thevar, Udayar and Veniyar communities were the main ones in this. It was due to these that the BJP was able to win this seat.
According to a CSDS study, AIDMK won 37 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The AIDMK won this because it secured 50% votes from the Thevar caste of the state and 60% from the Udayar caste. Apart from this, AIDMK also got a lot of support from Vanniyar, Mudaliar, OBC and Muslim community.
On the other hand, if we talk about DMK, it had the highest support of about 47 percent upper castes in Tamil Nadu. However, DMK also had the support of 34 per cent Mudaliars and 31 per cent Muslims.
Scheduled Caste population in Tamil Nadu
According to the 2011 census, Tamil Nadu has a total population of about 7.21 crore. In which the Scheduled Caste population is 20.01 percent of the total population. On the other hand, if we look at the figures of the voters of the state, the total number of voters in Tamil Nadu is about 6 crores. In this, 18 percent of the voters come from the scheduled castes. That is why 7 Lok Sabha seats of the state are reserved. In districts like Thiruvarur, Nilgiri, Nagapattinam, Perambalu in Tamil Nadu, the Scheduled Caste population is 30 to 40%. At the same time, the population of this community is 25 to 30 percent in Villupuram and Cuddalore. However, the seven sub-castes that the BJP has given a different name, all want to come out of the Scheduled Caste category. In fact, the people of these seven castes say that they are associated with the work of agriculture and they have been doing this work from generation to generation, they have been forced into the category of Scheduled Castes. That is why he has been demanding to get out of this category for decades. The BJP is trying to cash in on this issue and attract these seven sub-castes somewhere.
Leading literacy rate
The literacy rate in the southern states has always been above that of other states of India. South is also ahead in terms of literacy rate among Scheduled Castes, Tamil Nadu has a literacy rate of about 73% of such population, which is much higher than any other state in the country. This is the reason that soon a political party does not get votes only on caste basis. However, this time political parties have definitely prepared the equation to get votes on caste basis. But how successful it is and what is the result of this equation, it will be known only after the result comes on 2 May.
DMK engaged in devar caste
This time DMK has entered the political arena without Karunanidhi, so it has become very important for DMK chief Stalin to win this election. The DMK saw how other political parties were setting caste equations, so now she has started on the same path and this time she has placed bets on the Dewar caste of the state which is directly in the 30 assembly seats of Tamil Nadu. Holds influence. When Sasikala was present in AIDMK, the support of this caste was received by AIDMCO. But now when Sasikala has retired from politics, then the DMK has started working for this caste. Apart from this, the DMK is also engaged in helping the Vaniyar caste, for this MK Stalin has fielded the big Vaniyar leaders of the DMK.
BJP’s new ‘caste’ strategy
The Bharatiya Janata Party used to do politics only on religious grounds. But in the last few years it has made special changes in its strategy, in which the biggest change is that now the BJP is setting its issues according to the castes and communities based on the states. The Bharatiya Janata Party has also been getting a lot of benefit from this. In the Uttar Pradesh elections itself, everyone was stunned by the way the Bharatiya Janata Party raised an overwhelming majority by helping the Dalit community. BJP is now contesting elections not only in Tamil Nadu but also in states like Assam, West Bengal, Kerala under this strategy. The Bharatiya Janata Party also used the same strategy in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, due to which it got an overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha elections. However, how successful BJP’s strategy is in these assembly elections will tell the time to come.
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