Chennai : Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s decision to rename Tamil Nadu’s breakfast programme after former chief minister K Kamaraj might look like a welfare-scheme rebranding, but the political message is far bigger. By putting the Congress stalwart and Nadar icon Kamaraj back at the centre of a flagship scheme launched by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
For Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters watching the developments, the move also presents an opportunity for the party to turn Kamaraj from a Tamil political icon into a wider OBC symbol and build a coalition around him ahead of the 2029 Lok Sabha election. One such BJP group has even appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to name a Central government scheme after K Kamaraj. The Tamil Nadu government led by CM Vijay issued an order renaming the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme as the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme.
The subsequent decision to attach Kamaraj’s name to the scheme adds a political layer to what was already a welfare programme. In 1956, Kamaraj pioneered the statewide expansion of the school meal programme in Madras State, providing free noon meals to poor primary-school children. “Nadar is the second largest OBC community [in Tamil Nadu], as per the Amba Shankar Commission (1982–1985). Around 40% of the Nadars are Christians today. This community is attracted to CM Vijay, who himself is a practising Christian.
Ravindran Duraisamy is the convenor of the Team RD Modiiji for PM 2029, which is an entrusted unit of Gujarat’s Bharat Padak. The 21-member team focusses on providing insights and advice about social problems and other political developments to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Duraisamy told India Today Digital that his Team RD Modiji for PM 2029 had urged PM Modi to forge an alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka and contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together, arguing that such a tie-up could strengthen the BJP-led challenge to the Congress.
“Vijay is playing on the anti-Dravidian plank,” Duraisamy told India Today Digital. “The Tamil Nadu politics, when Kamaraj was the CM and Karunanidhi and MGR started the DMK, the complete politics was Dravidian politics versus anti-Dravidian. The DMK was completely successful in gaining the Dravidian dominance and pushed Kamaraj to the sides. Now Vijay is trying to play the same card against the DMK.” The DMK has long been the dominant political expression of Dravidian ideology in Tamil Nadu.
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