Is BJP losing the southern plot?

The withdrawal of TDP from the NDA on the ground of the BJP turning a blind eye to the aspirations and needs of people from Andhra Pradesh completes the process of north vs south polarisation in the social media space. This has been either intentionally or inadvertently brought about by the Central government’s myopic policies like pushing Hindi and by BJP leaders’ verbal gaffes like the denigration of Dravidian icon Periyar.

Just yesterday, Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, while passing the state budget in the Assembly, rejected BJP’s claim that the state would soon witness the end of the Dravidian era and instead praised the contribution of successive Dravidian governments since 1967, including DMK regimes, towards the state’s success.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has written in the latest issue of National Herald on Sunday: “Is the desire of the people of Karnataka to have a flag for their state, to give primacy to Kannada language and to have greater say in the running of their own lives inconsistent with the objective of building a strong nation?” The Congress leader has also talked about the issues of southern state’s disproportionately small share in taxes collected and has pressed for greater recognition of regional autonomy and more federalisation.

The BJP and the Parivar’s dream of realising its “one nation, one culture’ goal, firmly hinges on the twin pillars of establishing the supremacy of a Vaishnava, vegetarian brand of Hinduism and imposition of Hindi on a multitude of states where the majority does not speak the language.

But with southern Chief Ministers accusing the Centre of being stingy with allocations for these states, an economic angle has now come into play.

While it is funny that it took BJP trolls on Twitter and Facebook till 9 AM on March 16 to realise that TDP was an opportunistic and unreliable partner, what is far more interesting is the way the social media has become a north vs south battleground, often between former supporters of Narendra Modi and those who still pledge their loyalty to the Prime Minister.

Here are a collection of some of such tweets.

It does not make sense for the BJP to antagonise the south just before the Karnataka Assembly polls. Not that the general elections are that far away as well. It is obvious that the BJP’s tally in the northern states can only go down from the high numbers they reached in 2014. Then, why are BJP leaders scoring own goals like denigrating Periyar, questioning Karnataka’s choice of its own flag, etc?

It may be so that BJP’s election masterminds realise that barring Karnataka, the party does not stand any chance in the south. And that way, adoption of a pro-Hindi and pro-Hindi heartland rhetoric, could lead to a north-south polarisation which may help them stem the slide in the Hindi belt before the general elections. But one wonders if that will work in case the Opposition forces forge unity before the general elections.