It’s height of stupidity to see state poll results as North-South divide
By Sushil Kutty
Musk’s ‘X’, which used to be Dorsey’s ‘Twitter’, is aiding the sharpening of the south-north divide in Hindustan, which is now ‘Bharat’ north of the Vindhyas, and ‘INDIA’ south of the Vindhyas. And plenty of barbs keep the pot boiling. One user tweeted, “Hence proved – South is aware and North is still lagging far behind.” Another posted “They vote for BJP in the Hindi Belt and then go down to the South for Work.” Wow. Rahul Gandhi should undertake another Bharat Jodo Yatra – this time from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
Udayanidhi Stalin and Balaji Senthil did massive harm to the Congress while garnering Dravidian votes in the lakhs for the DMK. That said, the Congress won more popular votes than the BJP did in the 5-state elections, a la Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump in 2016.
Certain INDI-Alliance stalwarts appear to agree with the DMK’s Balaji Senthil that the BJP won only in “Gaumutra states”. Don’t INDI-Alliance leaders have an inkling that Ayurveda recognizes ‘gaumutra’ as a panacea for a variety of illnesses? Also, ‘gaumata’ is revered in glades across the length and breadth of India. Couldn’t the excess popular votes that the Congress got be Muslim votes as had happened in Karnataka?
Some INDI-Alliance leaders are convinced that even in the ‘gaumutra states’, Hindu/sanatani voters refused to vote for the BJP. Does that mean that the Congress lost because its vaunted Muslim vote-bank did not shift en masse to the Congress this time as it had in Karnataka? Should we conclude that the mass migration of Muslim votes did not help the Congress in the Hindi heartland?
The concern should be DMK politicians are taking the Congress for granted. Udayanidhi Stalin set the ball rolling and Priyank Kharge committed a self-goal. Isn’t Priyank authentic south Indian and, therefore, of above average intelligence unlike Rahul Gandhi who is certified north Indian? All that Rahul Gandhi did was to go down south to secure a Lok Sabha seat, a recourse which Rahul’s grandmother, Indira Gandhi, patented. And Indira was a bonafide north Indian, as was her father, India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, there are only two things common between Nehru and Modi – both are north Indians who became Prime Minister of India. Fact is, the south-versus-north divide has been coming a long time. Even Maharashtra considers itself as much north as Uttar Pradesh. Is Himachal Pradesh, which the Congress won against a larger Modi wave, a ‘gaumutra state’?
Only a Balaji Senthil would be intelligent enough to answer. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin has a lot to answer. Not too long ago, when Nitish Kumar was going around seeking opposition unity, there was talk of “MK Stalin for Prime Minister of India acceptable to all of India”. Now, after Udayanidhi Stalin, A Raja and Balaji Senthil, which north Indian from ‘gaumutra states’ would vote for MK Stalin, or even Rahul Gandhi for Prime Minister?
The sad part is, MK Stalin cannot make amends. It is too late in the day. Besides, the harm has already been done. Actually, the times, they have changed since the time MK Karunanidhi, Stalin’s venerable father, was Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The reality is, the INDI-Alliance faces a tough choice for projecting a “PM’s face” unless Rahul Gandhi does a “dandavat pranaam” to the “north” which had sent him packing from his Amethi pocket-borough to the Muslim-dominated south bastion of Wayanad.
Come to think of it, Rahul Gandhi contesting from Amethi would be an invitation for yet another Smriti Irani victory. Balaji Senthil’s idiotic “Gaumutra states of north India” is the albatross round Rahul Gandhi’s vulnerable neck. For whatever it is worth, unless there’s a Congress apology, there wouldn’t be movement forward for the Congress and the equally hard hit INDI-Alliance.
The north-south divide is more pronounced after the latest salvo against the north. It has spun out of control. And the driver of “Hindutva” is no longer the Sangh Parivar, the reins have passed on into the hands of parties like the DMK, which has no clue of the politics played up north; about the negative rhetoric which feeds a particular kind of frenzy that was absent till a decade ago.
The weakening of the Congress and the rise of the BJP are largely to blame. The DMK appears totally unaware of how far Hindu sentiments have travelled since 2014 with the onslaught of Hindutva. In fact, the extent of the “Hindutvaisation” of north India appears to be completely lost on south India. The south also forgets that the Prime Minister of India is selected/elected by “gaumutra states” with “gaumutra votes”. The INDI-Alliance was not formed to make Rahul Gandhi Chief Minister of Kerala. Gaumutra states will decide the fate of General Elections 2024. (IPA Service)