Campaigning for the BJP in Tamil Nadu is basically the ploughing of a lonely furrow. And yet, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has hit the campaign trail in the State after nine public meetings in Kerala, in the hope that every little thing counts. “ Sahodarar, Sahodarikal, vanakkam! (brothers and sisters, greetings)” says the former Chief Minister of U.P. to the crowd in Thiruvadanai.
But switching swiftly to Hindi, he says, “Tamil is undoubtedly a lovely language but unfortunately, I neither speak nor understand it. I shall speak in Hindi, and [pointing to his translator] Thiru Muralidharan will translate,” he says.
Slams freebies
His campaign themes revolve around the culture of freebies in the State. “Amma water, Amma mixer grinder, Amma salt — all this is not a favour done to people, but paid for by the people themselves,” he says. The translation leaves out the enumeration of the freebies, prompting the local candidate, TV channel promoter, Dr. Devanathan, to shift uneasily in his seat. Emphasis makes the rhetoric but is lost in translation. Mr. Muralidharan is a former high school principal and a radio artist. He was hired only for one rally but has been retained for the Home Minister’s two-day trip. “My speeches are only as good as the translator,” says Mr. Singh modestly, pointing out that “Danny Jeypaul, the Malayalam translator at my Kerala meetings, was also very good.”
His luck seems better than that of others from out of town campaigning in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. On development, the BJP promises industry and projects that will make places like Rameswaram a cultural hub. In the first draft of the speech, the word used was “tourist.” Mr. Singh substitutes it with “culture”; when someone suggests the word “pilgrimage”, the response is that “it means the same thing.”
Mr. Singh’s north Indian vibe, however, does not prevent him from learning that all important Tamil word “ Tamarai ” (lotus). “Tamarai, Tamarai, Tamarai,” he says to the crowd in Karaikal.
While the lotus may take a while to bloom here, the BJP hopes it is a work in progress, like Mr. Singh’s Tamil.
