At the end of a grueling election, M.K. Stalin, from the DMK, stated he would support any southern states that wanted to secede. At first glance, it looks like somebody forgot to take his funny pills! He, however, was reiterating what other southern leaders have said previously. To refresh your memory, the former chief minister of neighboring Karnataka had complained that the south was subsidizing the north and had little, in return, to show. The former chief minister of Andhra made a similar statement. What is wrong with these people???
Economic contributions of the South
Tamil Nadu contributes just under 10% of the Indian GDP. Of this, a whopping 80% comes from industries and services (IT plays a major role). Karnataka contributes about the same, as does Andhra. Kerala contributes slightly less, around 8.5%. Overall, the contributes about 1 trillion dollars, a significant amount of money no doubt! However, this is possible only because these states are a part of the Republic of India. For those that question what the north contributes, it is about 800 billion! That all the monies go to support the entire country seems to be lost on the people questioning the contributions of different regions!!
The argument given by these secessionists is that “we are more educated and contribute more to the economic development of India.” Really? In other words, most people from the north are sitting around, scratching themselves, while eating peanuts paid for by the sweat and blood of the people from the south???? What total nonsense!! We seem to think too highly of our contribution!! Agriculture exists all over the country, not just in the south. Likewise with education and industry.
Educational institutions in the south have a significant number of people from the north and the opposite holds true! Subsidies are given to those states that are NOT doing well economically! While this may not seem justified to the south, the idea is to bring the entire population on par. How does this demonstrate a “step-motherly treatment”? The south should be proud they don’t need subsidies! Instead, we cry off “step-motherly treatment”!!
Let’s try something to humor ourselves
For some humor, Let’s see how the south will form a country. Consisting of Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, the GDP will drop from the 890 billion to about 500 billion USD! That’s right! The reason we have so much money to give is because of the economic policies that benefit us in the Republic of India, and NOT the United States of Southern India(USSI). In addition, we are not sure if any of the international companies that currently exist in these states would continue to exist, in an unstable political environment! They did agree to do business with India, not the USSI! Chew on that, Stalin and other secessionists!!
Where will the capital be? Is Chennai acceptable to all? Not from the looks of it since the people demanding secession have giant sized egos! What’s the unifying language going to be? Tamil? Kannada?? Telugu?? The Keralites are probably the most adaptable since they learn whatever language from the state they live in! Kannadigas also seem to learn the languages as also Telugus! You can see where the problem is!!
Back to the serious stuff
While this statement was more a cheap political gimmick than anything else, the effect it has on the general population is never estimated by these people. The northern brothers and sisters that live in the south have contributed as much to the development of the south as the locals. We collectively contribute to the development of the Republic of India. To tell the North that their contributions are not valued is a slap on their collective face!
When people don’t have anything to say, they seem to resort to cheap politics and this is nothing but that! The day Indians learn to live AS Indians and nothing else is the day India will take a giant step forward! Does the southern population have the intestinal fortitude to do this? Do we have the guts to throw out such people from the political arena? Unfortunately, history has shown we bring them back to power!
Will this next time be different? Only time will tell.