A Raja won Nilgris MP seat in 2019 with overwhelming 52.4% vote. Yet, bandh organized in Nilgris by Hindu organizations this Tuesday against his abusive speech on Hindus was resounding success with 90% establishments closed. A show of Hindu strength unprecedented in TN before.

Establishment is rattled that the constituency they swept in 2019 was openly showing such defiance. Near shutdown of Nilgris for a day demonstrated Hindus are not political orphans in the state. Recent strike down on BJP functionaries is the reaction of a frustrated ecosystem.

Nilgris constituency is part of Kongu region that NDA is traditionally more strong in. Also has high proportion of linguistic minorities, who are moving increasingly with BJP. A Raja being an outsider to the district, high chance he loses in 2024 if he returns to contest again.

Clear message from Nilgris was that the same voters who chose the MP in 2019 were now willing to sacrifice a day's earnings to register their disapproval at having chosen such a representative. A slow churning Hindu conscious in Tamil society post 2021. dtnext.in/tamilnadu/2022…