Distribution of a booklet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s achievements in nine years, 11 public meetings, gram sabha meetings, street corner meetings, and a complaint box to enable people air their grievances – these are some of the salient features of the state-wide padayatra to be undertaken by Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai.
The yatra, which will virtually kick-start the BJP’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, will be launched from the temple town of Rameswaram on July 28 by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Known as ‘En Mann, En Makkal’, the yatra will cover all 234 assembly constituencies and 39 parliamentary constituencies in the state in five phases.
The first phase of the yatra will cover eight parliament constituencies – Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari, and Tirunelveli. It will start from Rameswaram and end in Tirunelveli, while the second phase of the yatra will start from Tenkasi in south Tamil Nadu and end in Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu.
The final phase of the yatra will cover eight Parliament constituencies in north Tamil Nadu, including three in Chennai. BJP leaders told DH that Shah, while launching the yatra, will release the ‘Rameswaram Resolutions’ which will be the political action document for the BJP in the state.
During the yatra, the leaders said, it is planned to distribute 10 lakh copies of a book on Modi’s achievements and hand over letters from Annamalai to 1 crore households. “We plan to hold 11 public meetings during the course of the yatra which will be addressed by senior national leaders and Union Ministers,” a leader said.
The padayatra will witness several grama sabha meetings and street corner meetings addressed by Annamalai, the leaders said. The yatra, which was scheduled to begin in April coinciding with the Tamil New Year, was postponed after the BJP sent Annamalai to oversee elections in Karnataka.
“We will also expose the corruption of DMK during the yatra. Our goal is to tell the people that the DMK and other parties’ projection of the BJP as a party that is anti-Tamil is wrong,” a senior leader said.
BJP leaders said the party launching the yatra from Rameswaram, a temple town that attracts lakhs of Hindu pilgrims, is also significant since it is home to a sizable number of fishermen, whom the BJP is trying to woo.