Chennai: When K. Annamalai, who is now Tamil Nadu BJP chief, resigned from the IPS in 2019, had a clear idea of what he wanted to do.
“I just want to take some time out and enjoy the little things in life which I could not do,” the 2011 batch officer wrote in his resignation letter.
“…be a good father to my son, go back home and farm, and see if my sheep still listen to me now that I’m not a cop.”
But life, as they say, had other plans.
Annamalai reached an area where he once loathed politics. Then – when he was appointed BJP state chief in 2021 – he set up base in Chennai, about 400 km from his home district of Karur.
Speaking to ThePrint, 38-year-old Annamalai said the journey so far has been one of “struggle”.
He said, ‘Politics has been imposed on me. I have resigned for something else.”
According to him, the suggestion to join politics seemed acceptable to him for one reason and one reason only – Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “If Modi Yes I was not in Indian politics, I can give you in writing that after resigning from IPS I would not be here but could have been a farmer.
Dubbed “Singham” During his stint in the IPS, Annamalai is now juggling his role in the Tamil Nadu BJP with another assignment in the poll-bound Karnataka earlier this month.
“I have to be on the ground here in Tamil Nadu to ensure that no narrative is set against the BJP,” he said. “Then I have to do justice to Karnataka where I am co-in-charge (for assembly elections, Then there is the foundation (we leaderswhich he founded For this, I prescribe farming for three days in a month and one and a half days in a month.
Meanwhile his dream of enjoying the little things is still out of reach.
“To be here, there is a huge price to be paid – loss of privacy and crazy travel schedule.”
‘UP has changed me as a person’
Annamalai, a Karnataka-cadre IPS officer, was the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru South, when he resigned in 2019. An engineering graduate with an MBA from IIM-Lucknow, Annamalai said Uttar Pradesh “changed me as a person”.
“I never aspired to be a politician. I went to Uttar Pradesh (UP) to do my MBA, UP changed me as a person. I became an IPS officer,” he said.
He said he had left the IPS to do something “which could contribute more and more to the people”.
“Foundation was a choice. But, at the end of the day, people influence you and a lot of choices are thrown at you.
An intensely private man, Annamalai, who now has two young children, prefers to keep his family out of the public eye. Some of his most profound moments of happiness, he said, are when he is left alone with a book.
Talking about the struggles of life as a politician, he said that one feels that “your whole life is in disarray”.
“You don’t go to bed every day. You visit your kids at odd hours. By the time you wake up, they’re off to school. By the time you come back, they’re asleep. All these are big hassles.” ”
Annamalai said, “The only thing that is certain in my life is my family, politics is uncertain”.
love for modi Yes And the country drives me forward. Despite all the troubles, I keep saying that there must be a ray of hope somewhere.”
‘Rebels will shake the system’
Annamalai, a first-generation politician, described Indian politics as “very toxic”.
“For a first timer like me, all guns blazing at me,” he said, adding that “there is no place in politics for first timers”.
“For some people, the background is set. They have been part of the system for 35 years. The leadership is around you. You are the lone leader in the party. Take Anbumani Ramadoss of DMK, AIADMK, TNCC, PMK, all of them for 20-25 years. Ready for the role. But Annamalai is not like that. Just two years in politics, struggling.”
However, he said, that same thing helps him relate to many people.
“Many people see themselves in me. First generation politician coming from a village. Entering politics, trying and fighting.”
He defined himself as a rebel who entered the political arena to shake up the existing system. I am trying to bring something new to the people. Fresh voices matter.
Ever since Annamalai entered politics, he has been in limelight on several issues. One of these pertains to the timepiece he wears, the BR 03 Raphael from French watchmaker Bell & Ross, in which drawn criticism from members of the ruling DMK.
When asked about the watch, he replied, “I’m still wearing it.”
He said, “For the first time in Indian history, for a person who has not taken government money, people question my spending… This shows how much Annamalai means to Tamil Nadu politics.”
In April, when he planned to undertake a padyatra across Tamil Nadu, Annamalai said he would reveal all his expensive items, including watch bills. “On the same day, there will be a tsunami in TN. I will release the details of assets worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore of DMK ministers with their names, benami names etc.
On future plans, Annamalai said he was ready to take up any role assigned by the party high command. He said, “If you ask me personally, I want to be in Tamil Nadu all the time I am serving here.”
To a question about posters projecting him as the next chief minister, Annamalai said, “With position comes fame and with it comes popularity and with it comes negative criticism. it’s all Spell, according to Hindu mythology,” he said. “The position is given by the party. I will do whatever the party wants me to do.
(Editing by Sunanda Ranjan)