Growing South-North divide puts India’s future as a federation at risk
New Delhi: Leaving the ongoing separatist movements aside, the widening North-South divide in India due to deep-seated socio-political and economic disparities poses a threat to the country as a federation.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the southern states of India are accusing New Delhi of systemic marginalization through fiscal policies, delimitation threats and cultural hegemony.
As a result of Modi regime’s Hindutva policies, southern states fear reduced parliamentary representation if delimitation—based solely on population—is implemented. Despite contributing disproportionately to India’s GDP, states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala could lose seats to northern counterparts with higher birth rates but weaker governance indicators.
“The BJP has long sought to consolidate power through a Hindutva agenda, suppressing progressive ideologies that dominate the southern political landscape,” writes South Asia Times, a premier research and media lab. Scholars argue that the party’s focus on a Hindu-majority identity excludes secular voices and diminishes regional autonomy, it added.
“Hindutva, with its roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), envisions India as a culturally unified Hindu state. This vision is incompatible with the secular and pluralistic values prevalent in the South. The imposition of a singular cultural and religious identity on India’s southern states, where regional pride and linguistic diversity are paramount, has spurred resistance. This ideological imposition, scholars argue, seeks not only political consolidation but a transformation of India’s identity,” South Asia Times wrote.
A political analyst, referencing the BJP’s dominance in the Hindi heartland, said , “National success is punished if it doesn’t wear saffron”.
Southern India, with an 80% literacy rate, far surpasses the North’s 60%, translating into better employment opportunities and income levels. Southern states, data reveals, contribute more than 30% of India’s tax revenues but receive minimal returns in central allocations.
Another fear among southern states is increasing marginalization of southern languages and identities under BJP’s Hindutva push. “Cultural genocide doesn’t need guns when policy does the job,” said a Dravidian activist.
