Notwithstanding heckles from a section of the audience, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who was the chief guest at Thuglak magazine’s 54th annual meet at the Music Academy in Chennai on Sunday, defended the idea of a ‘plural’ India and explained how the divide between North India and South India had grown over the past 10 years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure, affecting federalism.
He also highlighted the importance of creating a more equitable society, and the BJP’s alleged attempt to turn the Ram temple’s consecration into a political campaign for electoral gains. He pointed to the Union government’s decision to invoke an obscure provision of the Disaster Management Act to impose lockdowns in States; and the alleged use of the Enforcement Directorate primarily to target the Opposition parties as examples of the erosion of federalism.
“Why should the government’s reward for extraordinary economic success sustain the growth and population control below tax revenues from the Centre? The government’s answer would be that these are the rules in a democracy — one person one vote means the more people you have, the more political clout. In India, whose diversity is held together by a sense of common belonging, civic nationalism must accommodate a range of States with divergent levels of development. It is essential that all people feel that common nationhood is a winning proposition. I am a very proud Indian, but in a country where regional, religious, linguistic tensions are never far from the surface, the answer that we have more people and so we will have more money and more power risks rupturing the fragile bonds that hold us all together,” Mr. Tharoor said.
“I do worry about Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan politics of this government, and this culture of Aryavrat domination that infects the attitudes of some has already raised the issue among many, many southern politicians, and maybe Mr. Gurumurthy (Thuglak Editor) and others may not feel it’s such a big issue. I think it is a very serious issue because the consequences of all of this threaten the very unity of India, and the South faces political disenfranchisement to go along with a sense of financial victimisation, and that combination is absolutely bound to generate resentments that can spill over beyond the confines of our routine politics.”
BJP State president K. Annamalai underscored how schemes implemented by Mr. Modi had enabled people to escape the ‘poverty trap’. “Seven schemes have been implemented that has given gas cylinders, power and so on to each family and bringing composite laws to break the poverty trap. He (Modi) is trying to break the poverty trap with a hammer. There are no half-measures. The failure of the Congress is...they have been talking about ‘Roti, Kapada and Makaan’. They have been saying this from the 1980s. They have been in power without any idea of how to bring people out of poverty,” he said.
Mr. Annamalai responded to Mr. Tharoor’s allegation of the BJP disturbing the fiscal balance by stating that the weightage for population for fiscal devolution during Indira Gandhi’s tenure was almost 50%.
“In 1990, it was still 35% when Congress wasn’t in power. In 14th Finance Commission, population as per 1971 census was given 17.5% and according to 2011 population census, population was given a weightage of 10% (total 27.5%). In 15th Finance Commission, the weightage for population is just 15% and 40% is the distance between haves and have nots. 15% is decided by good performance and 10% is for ecological conservation, and 15% is geographical area. It has come down to 15% for population from 50%. It is comical that this is still being repeated by DMK and others. In the 16th Finance commission will give new parameters,” he said.
To queries from readers about the BJP’s growth in Tamil Nadu and the possibility of Mr. Annamalai becoming the Chief Minister in 2026, Mr. Gurumurthy said, “It will depend on how the BJP fares in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.”
Mr. Gurumurthy said that actor Rajinikanth had told him, when he was seriously thinking about entering politics, that he would not be the Chief Minister, and would prefer Mr. Annamalai as CM.
