Chennai, Coimbatore, Theni: The sound of approaching helicopters stirred the otherwise bored 10,000-strong crowd, waiting for hours, into excitement. Chants of ‘Modi, Modi, Modi’ attained a feverish pitch as three helicopters with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his entourage touched down at Then Tirupati, a village 35km from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The chant continued to reverberate across the venue till Modi reached the dais.

       This was in sharp contrast to how he was greeted five years ago. Modi was viewed as anti-Tamil. While the Modi wave swept the rest of India, he was greeted with black flags in the state; #gobackModi trended on social media every time he visited.

       Poll results underlined this anger. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), despite being in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), managed to secure just 3.66% of the total votes polled in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

       Over the next few years, Modi worked hard at correcting the anti-Tamil perception. More on that later.

       Today, BJP is gaining support in the Dravidian heartland, especially among the young and first-time voters. In fact, in the electoral battlefields of Tamil Nadu, a national party has become a force to reckon with after almost five decades.

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