Kerala and Tamil Nadu should follow the maxim- ‘Medice, cura te ipsum’ - physician, heal thyself
Kerala Kerala and Tamil Nadu were accusing the Centre of discrimination in the disbursement of financial assistance because of political differences. The total of the 2023-24 Kerala budget presented by K N Balagopal, the State’s finance minister, read like this: “All woes of Kerala are results of the indifferent and callous attitude of the BJP-led Centre towards the secular liberal and democratic dispensation ruling the State”. Balagopal hiked taxes on all goods including petrol and diesel to offset the loss suffered by the State on account of the Centre’s apathy. M K Stalin, chief minister of TN, daily lambastes the Centre for his State’s dismal shows in the economy. The bone of contention between the DMK and Centre is over the latter’s refusal to free the Dravidian heartland from the shackles of NEET, the screening test for admission to undergraduate courses in medical colleges. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu is the only State that has demanded the scrapping of the NEET, which was launched by the UPA Government that survived in office for a decade only because of the support extended by DMK, the party held tightly by Stalin’s family.The DMK is silent when asked why it could not set up any major public sector industries in Tamil Nadu while it was holding crucial stakes in the BJP-led Vajpayee Government (1999-2004) and the Congress-led UPA Government(2004-2014). It also failed to take up the interlinking of rivers which would have solved the severe water scarcity faced by the State.
The mini, small, and medium enterprises that sustain the State’s economy are in the doldrums. On Monday, union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there was no truth in the allegation by Kerala that it was being discriminated against by the Centre. The State has not submitted the Accountant General certified statement for GST Compensation even for a single year from 2017 till date. She requested N K Premachandran MP who raised the issue to sit with the State Government and plead with it to send the AG-certified statement. Sitharaman’s sporting offer comes immediately after the CAG blamed Kerala for its failure to collect revenue arrears worth Rs 22,000 crore over the last two years. Well, anti-Centre rhetoric may work for some time and help the State to wash its hands off financial mismanagement. Kerala and TN should set their houses in order before venturing out to cast aspersions on Centre.
