The NDA Alternative: Inside Tamil Nadu’s High-Stakes Battle for Change

Tamil Nadu is witnessing a unique election with two major alliances and two other parties contesting independently, making it a four-cornered fight. Despite being in power for five years and claiming to have delivered world-class governance comparable to that of Scandinavian countries, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government is making desperate poll promises, showing how badly the electoral arithmetic and the mood of the people are tilted against them. Unfortunately, these promises have fallen flat and received no reception from the people. The DMK has made 505 election promises, in addition to those for every district in the state, but has failed to fulfil even 10 per cent of them, even after being in power for five years. Why would the people be swayed again by their empty promises? On the other hand, the people are looking forward to change as they have felt suffocated due to corruption and misgovernance of the DMK government.

The primary duty of any state government is to maintain law and order. However, the DMK government has totally failed in its principal and primary responsibility. This is not merely the Opposition’s perspective; the stark facts reveal severe misgovernance in Tamil Nadu―8,008 murders, 2,080 sexual assault cases and 39,999 POCSO cases in the past five years, which reveal how the state is moving towards a path of peril. Even the state’s premium educational institutions are not beyond scandals under this government.

According to data released by the Narcotics Control Bureau, about 65,518 kg of ganja and around 8,000 kg of synthetic drugs have been confiscated in five years. One can only imagine the quantity of drugs that have entered the state if this is the amount seized. Drugs have not only spread in urban areas, but have today reached rural suburbs too, affecting even school and college-going children. There is a systemic failure in the law enforcement department, as it is busy appeasing the DMK government and has now become an extension of the party, doing its bidding.

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) had sent three dossiers to the Director General of Police regarding the corruption―Rs 2,300 crore in the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, requesting the state police to file an FIR against the Minister for Municipal Administration K. N. Nehru. The Madras High Court addressed the delay in filing an FIR and directed the state government to do so, as sufficient proof of corruption had been provided. The DMK government has continued to evade action and has not filed the FIR till today.

This reflects the level of respect shown by the state government to our judiciary, yet these same people give lectures about how our Constitution is in danger.

Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government supporting the DMK government with funds for critical projects like the Chennai Metro Phase 2, the state government, for reasons best known to them, has doubled the state’s outstanding debt in five years. The total accumulated debt of the Tamil Nadu government today is Rs 10.72 lakh crore, which is the highest among all states in the country. This is despite the fact that the Union government, through devolution and grants to Tamil Nadu, has transferred a total of Rs 3.71 lakh crore. During the 10-year tenure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government―between 2004 and 2014―Tamil Nadu received Rs 15.2 lakh crore. In the last five years, the Union government has transferred 2.4 times as much as the UPA government did in 10 years.

All that the DMK government has done is to stonewall the implementation of the Union government’s programmes in the state, and the people today are well aware of this. To hide the growing lacunae in their misgovernance and the people’s discontent across the state, the DMK has formed an alliance with 24 parties. This shows explicitly in their true standing today. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance, led by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), has been receiving an astounding reception across every constituency.

The DMK campaign is led by M. K. Stalin, his son Udhayanidhi Stalin, and his sister Kanimozhi Karunanidhi. But Kanimozhi was not given a seat to contest as Stalin’s family fears that the succession to Udhayanidhi could become a problem if Kanimozhi gains power in the state. This is the principal problem for the DMK today. They are least bothered about the welfare and concerns of the state’s common people. All they have pursued is how to maintain control over the party.

In Tamil Nadu, women don’t feel safe on the roads anymore. There is a surge in drug-fuelled violence, corruption at every level of government, unfulfilled promises, and unfulfilled aspirations of the youth, which are the achievements of the DMK government, and people are yearning for a change. They know it can only be delivered by the NDA, with Edappadi K. Palaniswami in the state and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre.

K. Annamalai is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party

(Views expressed are personal)