Amit Shah 'reprimanding' video: Show of unity at top of Tamil Nadu BJP takes the heat off national leadership

BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan with Union minister Amit Shah (Courtesy: PTI photo)

A show of unity at the top not only helped to plaster over the cracks in the lower rungs of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, but also took the heat off the national leadership of the party. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had come in for criticism in Tamil Nadu after he was widely seen as having publicly reprimanded Tamilisai Soundararajan, a former state unit president and former Telangana governor, for her remarks on the current state unit president K Annamalai.

Annamalai called on senior leader Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday just days after their supporters were engaged in a public spat. Annamalai addressed Tamilisai Soundararajan as akka or elder sister and praised her contribution as the head of the state unit between 2014 and 2019.

Soundararajan returned the favour immediately by describing Annamalai as anbu thambi or loving brother.

The 'sibling bonhomie' became a political necessity after what happened  the days before.

Soundararajan had earlier sought to clarify that Amit Shah had not chastised her for remarks that insinuated that Annamalai was inducting antisocial elements into the party and that he was wrong to have dumped the AIADMK as an alliance partner. After this clarification, that took the pressure off the national leadership of the BJP, which came in for criticism after the video clip that gave the impression Shah was publicly reprimanding a senior leader went viral, it was Annamalai's turn to cool things down. And he did so by calling on Soundararajan and praising her.

The need to manage the raging controversy became urgent after the DMK too criticised what it saw as a public reprimand. A caste organisation, Nadar Mahajana Sangam, saw the episode as a public humiliation of Soundararajan, whom they saw as one of their own. Nadars in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, especially Kanniyakumari and Tirunelveli, have been a source of support for the BJP over the years.

DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai, immediately after the Amit Shah interaction went viral, had criticised the public nature of the exchange, stating, “What kind of politics is this? Is it polite to publicly reprimand a prominent female politician from Tamil Nadu? Amit Shah should know that everyone will see this. A very wrong example!”

The show of unity at the top of the state unit was also a cue for their supporters to end the shadow boxing that was not helping the party at all.

The attempt of the senior leadership of the BJP was to shift the focus back to the post-poll work on the ground rather than let the infighting fester. It also did not want the issue to alienate those who constitute its support base among Hindu Nadars in districts where Christians are in large numbers.