'Upper caste, Sanskritised, vegetarian': Cong MP Karti Chidambaram on Hindutva, why BJP ‘does not understand’ Tamil Nadu

SEnior us congress leader Karti Chidambaram has accused the BJP of professing a “ variation” of the Hindutva that narrows the hindustani trust spell not understanding how the Hindu faith is practised in Tamil Nadu and other states.“You see, the BJP always tries. They try very hard and they are an election machine,” Chidambaram said about poll-bound Tamil Nadu at an NDTV event, “I don't agree with them ideologically. My worldview differs from their worldview. I'm a liberal, whereas they are quite regimented.” He termed BJP's worldview as “Ayatollah Hindutva” — equating them to the head of the Islamic regime in Iran in terms of orthodoxy — and said, “The BJP does not get Tamil Nadu.” He explained, “See, Tamil Nadu is actually the most Hindu of all states in India. We are the most religious of people… but still reject the BJP. The BJP doesn't get that. The BJP is a version of Hindutva… very upper caste, Sanskritised and vegetarian. That's not the practice of the faith here."He added that practice of Hinduism in Tamil Nadu includes animal sacrifice, for instance, at Muniswaran temples.“They (BJP) sometimes confuse the fact that because people are temple-going, they will subscribe to their Hindutva agenda, which is not true,” Chidambaram, a Lok Sabha member and son of former Union minister P Chidambaram, argued.Pressed on the vegetarianism argument, he stressed that he was not merely talking about a dietary choice. “It's almost a puritanical thrust.” He added, “Vast majority of Indians eat meat, fowl or fish. And this vegetarian thrust is a very — I wouldn't want to use the term ‘casteist’ — casteist tinge the BJP brings to the Hindutva.”He accused the BJP of ignoring native practices of the faith. “And that is why they are getting rejected,” he claimed.“They are almost creating a catechism for Hindutva by saying there is a principal temple, there is a principal way to worship or a principal god. That's not the case. All of us have Kuladevams here, which are mostly Karuppar or Munishwarar or something in our own villages. That will never find mention in the BJP's pantheon,” he further said.Calling the BJP and its “version” of Hindu faith “very regimented”, he further argued: “They are trying to make this into an Abrahamic faith, which it is not. The whole idea of the practice of the Hindu faith is, that it's plural.”He cited “one of the most BJP of all districts in Karnataka”, Coorg, Kodava, where people eat pork. “The North Indian BJP supporter cannot fathom that at all. No wedding in Coorg can ever be without pork,” he added.“The BJP's understanding of Hindutva — and of Hindu faith itself — is very regimented. Because they can't come and be flexible in Tamil Nadu, they can't be flexible about their language imposition, about the practice of the faith, that's where they go wrong in Tamil Nadu,” he said.The BJP has significantly escalated its efforts to establish a foothold in Tamil Nadu, a state traditionally dominated by the Dravidian heavyweights, DMK and AIADMK. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spearheaded this push with frequent visits, including the high-profile 'Kashi Tamil Sangamam' and multiple roadshows across major cities like Chennai and Coimbatore. Central to the party’s strategy is a cultural outreach, emphasising the “civilisational links” between North and South India. By focusing on issues of governance and anti-corruption, the party aims to capture the space left by a fractured opposition against the DMK-Congress, and transcend its image as a North Indian party.But the party has not managed to win seats so far. The ruling DMK-led alliance continues to lean on its "Dravidian Model" of social justice and welfare schemes to maintain its stronghold. The AIADMK, having formally severed ties with the BJP-led NDA, is fighting to reclaim its status as the sole alternative to the DMK, while navigating internal frictions. It is in this volatile environment that the BJP is attempting to consolidate a non-DMK, non-AIADMK vote bank.