The hot seat of Prime Minister is tantalizing for the Opposition
2024 – Is it that easy for I.N.D.I.A. newly formed Opposition alliance?
Or difficult for Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party?
The answer is Opposition has to have a space in democracy.
If one analyzes the Southern Indian political parties, one would drive to a dead end. Caste-based parties, separatist tendencies, at any cost “No Hindi” chorus, the in-built ego of inferiority complexities, that North Indian states are well developed and stepmotherly treated for South Indian states. In South India, there are six states, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry. There are 12 major state parties. To name it, AIADMK, DMK, YSR Congress, Bharatiya Rashtriya Samiti, NR Congress in Puducherry… Six states are ruled by different political parties. In Kerala Communists, DMK in Tamil Nadu, YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh, in Karnataka Kharge led Congress, Telangana has BRS KCR, Puducherry BJP supported NR Congress. These above said eight parties do not have a common agenda, but are part of the alliance with I.N.D.I.A.
Does it not smell foul, when you ally with your arch-rivals? Like AAP sharing the table with Congress, while CPM with Trinamool Congress?
Let us discuss state by state. From South India.
One would conclude that the opposition alliance of 26 parties in South India has yet to take off. There are six candidates for the post of Prime Minister from South India. To name it first, M K Stalin has massive ambition, to win all 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and aspire for the hot seat. Jagan Reddy, chief of YSR Congress, is determined to decimate Congress in Andhra Pradesh and is also one of the contenders for the PM post. Why not Siddharamaiah or for that matter P Chidambaram?
When we debated about personalities, where is a nationalist face? Who is taller than Narendra Modi? India had two Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao and H D Deve Gowda, and in the past thirty years, after 1989, Viswanath Pratap Singh as Prime Minister, the DMK had participated in each of the successive Union governments. In the North, the perspective about DMK is that they are corrupt. In fact, Arun Jaitley coined best for DMK, daily money kamao, this slogan Amit Shah has adopted in his recent speeches in Tamil Nadu. Home Minister Amit Shah has gone to the extent of saying that DMK stopped Kamaraj and G K Moopanar from becoming the Prime Minister. But after 30 years, now the taste of power crept into DMK too. In fact, to demolish the north-south divide, there is a serious thought in BJP to field Narendra Modi from Ramanathapuram Tamil Nadu for Lok Sabha in 2024. In addiiton to Varanasi. If that happens the DMK will be exposed. Modi is planning in that direction if his outreach to the Tamil language is to be judged. Like Narendra Modi successfully flagged Kasi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi in 2022. Wherever Modi as Prime Minister addresses international gatherings brings out a Tamil poet name either Thiruvallvar or Subramania Bharati. During the Ukraine war conflict, it is the Narendra Modi government that brought 2500 Tamil students from war zones, and 10,500 students in total for all six southern states. Is it, not nationalism? Should not the South Indian voters recognize that the Union government does care for the southern states whichever party is in position, be it UPA or NDA?
Why South Indian parties shy away from North Indian leaders. Why is there no jelling of their personalities?
For instance, M K Stalin did not stay in Patna to be seen with Nitish Kumar at the first meeting of opposition parties. On Migrants issues, southern parties have an aversion for “Bihari bhaiyyas” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah heckles Hindi. Similarly, DMK speaks openly against R N Ravi Governor of Tamil Nadu as a “Bihari bechara“. And DMK castigates in a slang language that who sells Pani Puri are “Bihari and UP bhaiyyas” In the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin DMK Minister Ponmudi brings out venom against North Indians. But for Nitish Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav’s intervention, the migrants of Biharis in Tamil Nadu would not have been silenced, last year. there was an eruption of politics. In the last one decade, one could visualize that a Bihari will be a Minister in Tamil Nadu government. The reason is the large number of migrants from North to South. These migrants dominate the agriculture, hospitality, and textile sectors in three important states in the South.
The South Opposition parties are shrinking, and weakening and they have no ideology except to overthrow Narendra Modi. Bengaluru and Patna meetings of the 26 Opposition parties did not sort out their internal contradictions. Very interesting comments by the BJP Tamil Nadu Chief K Annamalai on DMK and southern parties in alliance in INDIA to vote out Modi. Annamalai in public meetings speaks in the following views. Today had the opportunity to meet our Press & Media friends & were questioned about the new I.N.D.I.A alliance.
At the outset, I am proud that our Hon PM Thiru @narendramodi avl has instilled a sense of pride in every Bharatiya through his hard work and people-centric approach & that now even secessionist elements have begun to call themselves INDIA. Welcome change. Seeing the parties present in I.N.D.I.A only reminds us of what their past was & what they held dearly to date.
Former PM Nehru had to get the 16th amendment of our constitution enacted to keep parties like DMK at bay, who were bent on breaking our country in the early 60s. Can the DMK leader in I.N.D.I.A deny that they spoke this language even recently? Secessionist by both mind & heart. After the Abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir has been united with our Country, which was previously robbed of social equity & development. The parties in this alliance continue to advocate against the abrogation of Article 370 & only expose where their interest lies. Congress party, which wants our country divided, raised & encouraged anti-National slogans in JNU & misinterprets our Constitution on foreign soil for political gains, and chairs this alliance of convenience comprising of Butchers of Democracy, Dynasts & 3rd Generation corrupts. Annamalai continues like this, Reminded of my grandma’s saying, a dog with stripes will not make it a Tiger & it will remain a dog forever. India will never approve I.N.D.I.A.
To put it in a nutshell, I.N.D.I.A alliance born in Bengaluru cannot make inroads into South India. Due to its negativity, and no common ideologies. This can be attributed to the vast popularity of the BJP especially Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, J P Nadda, and Yogi Adityanath in South India. Especially the construction of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. This has certainly gone deep into the mindsets of South Indians. That is why Amit Shah recently laid the foundation for the tallest statue of Ram and a huge Ram Mandir in Andhra Pradesh. Certainly, there is a massive outreach by BJP amongst Muslims in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Due to triple talaq being taken down and the abrogation of 370 in Kashmir. Now the uniform civil code. Muslim youths in the south have begun to think that for the prosperity of the minorities, there should be a strong Central government and Muslims should not be considered as Vote Bank combo.
Whichever side one looks at I.N.D.I.A’s birth before 2024 Lok Sabha, a welcome step by warring Opposition. The fight in South Indian politics will go on.
“Kahani baki hai”
Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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Allah-O-Akbar