Divisive Politics

 

THAT Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Mr. M.K. Stalin -- who is also the chief of the Dravida Munethra Kazhagam (DMK) has his own politically-driven approach to the issue of delimitation of parliamentary and other constituencies, is perfectly all right. It is also perfectly all right for him to organise a united front of Members of Parliament (MPs) from all parties to push his idea in that regard. Whether to join such a front or not will, naturally, be left to the MPs as per their respective organisations’ stance on the issue. But even as all this fits well into the overall political frame, what creates a sense of concern is Mr. Stalin’s divisive agenda that he and his party have been following for some time. There are reasons to suspect that Mr. Stalin is interested in creating a south-north divide in the country -- which is totally undesirable. It needs to stated unequivocally that the DMK has always been known for its divisive approach to politics -- mostly based on imagined south-north differences.

 

Leaders of the DMK have often tried to dare the constitutionally-sanctioned federal structure. They are also known to be making statements about how the southern parts of India are different from the rest of the country. And in order to push this idea of politics, the DMK and a few other political parties in the southern region try to impose on the nation lop-sided definitions of Sanatan dharma, marks of cultural identity of that region, three-language formula etc. For the past some time, Mr. M.K. Stalin has been leading this narrative that actually does not gel well with the larger national perspective. There is no need to discount the issue of regional identity of different areas in South India -- such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana. Each of these areas has its own cultural signature which the political parties in respective areas have a right to uphold. Most political parties do so within the spiritual and structural framework of the Constitution of India.

 

However, occasionally, some of them raise issues that militate against this general understanding. For the past some time, Mr. Stalin has been allowing leaders of his DMK party to raise issues daring the general national perspective. That is the matter of concern. The issue of fresh delimitation of parliamentary constituencies may kick up differing political opinions, all right. So, when Mr. Stalin expects Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi to have a complete rethink on the issue, he is within his right to do so. But he should realise that the issue will certainly be discussed at the national level with a national perspective. In that case, Mr. Stalin may not be able to dictate his terms to the nation and change the direction of the discourse. So, he will have to flow along the national consensus. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be the idea of Mr. Stalin when he talks of altering the delimitation agenda to suit his own idea alone.

 

That may be too preposterous for him to try to impose upon the national discourse his narrow will. For, if he attempts such an approach, he may get branded as playing a divisive politics. No matter what his views are, Mr. Stalin will have to adopt an accommodative approach and not think of the delimitation move as politically-driven to suit the needs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Understanding the situation from such a perspective will benefit everybody. But such an approach is not taken, then an unfortunate south-north divide may get hinted to. By any standard, that will be like drawing a south-north dividing line for no good reason. Mr. Stalin needs to take into account all such dimensions of the situation promising to emerge from his recent stance. He will have to work systematically to erase the negative national impression about him.