The secessionist demands in Tamil Nadu and Kerala must not be taken lightly; if left unchecked, such undertones will only grow

The Center and the Constitutional authorities in the country should take serious note of the secessionist demands brewing up in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Though the DMK has been demanding more autonomy for Tamil Nadu since the days of C N Annadurai, the former chief minister and founder of the party, the AIADMK, its political offshoot always maintained a subdued silence on this stance. The AIADMK, launched by M G Ramachandran (popularly known as MGR), always preferred cordial ties with the Center. It is an open secret that MGR had told his confidants and political heir J Jayalalithaa not to have any kind of tension with New Delhi. The tenures of MGR, Jayalalithaa and even Edappadi Palaniswamy stand out because of their ties with the Centre. The same cannot be said about the DMK and the fringe outfits operating as constituents of the Rainbow Alliance led by the former. The cat came out of the bag in March 2018 when M K Stalin, the present chief minister who was the then leader of Opposition called for a separate Dravidian nation that included all South Indian States. “If such a situation comes, it would be welcome. We hope that such a situation arises,” Stalin was heard telling in a press meeting at Erode.

K Thirunavukkarassu, the DMK’s official intellectual, endorsed Stalin’s view and explained that all five South Indian States and the union territory of Pudussery should jointly raise this demand. “The need to have a separate Dravidian nation is specified in the Constitution of the DMK and it is still valid,” said the party intellectual. Though the DMK had openly advocated for the formation of a separate Dravida Nadu, when Annadurai in a speech in Rajya Sabha on 1 May 1962 called for the independence of Dravida Nadu from the Indian union. But he had to fall in line after the Parliament passed the 16th Amendment of the Constitution to prohibit the fissiparous and secessionist tendency among certain political outfits. The passage of the amendment made it impossible for parties calling for secessionism to fight elections and the DMK was forced to relegate the call for Dravida Nadu to the backburner.

The recent tendencies of the DMK-led Tamil Nadu Government show that the ruling party is strengthening and fortifying its demand for secession from the Indian Union. The refusal of the chief minister to dismiss his cabinet colleague Senthil Balaji who has been arrested by the ED on charges of money laundering and was denied bail by the courts even after nearly eight months of his arrest, the refusal of permission to the DMK Government to allow Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in the State and the State’s intransigent attitude against NEET (the common admission test to select students to undergraduate and graduate medical schools in the State) are just tip of the iceberg.

Like a contagious disease, the demand for a separate country has spread out to the CPI(M) ruled Kerala too. Though the CPI(M) had ruled the State six times in the past, there were no such demands during that tenure. But Kerala after the 2016 assembly election was not the same State. If one goes through the demands made by the ministers and leaders of the CPI(M), the call for secession from the Indian Union is discernible.

The ongoing slugfest between the State and the Centre over the latter’s refusal to grant permission for limitless borrowing from other agencies, the suit filed by the State in the Supreme Court asking the apex court to issue a directive to the Governor to kowtow to its orders are signals in this regard. Both the CPI(M) and the DMK want the Governors in their States to be subservient to the chief ministers of the respective States. “The sheep does not have a beard. Hence what is the need for a State to have a Governor?”, R s Bharati, an acolyte of Stalin was heard asking in a public meeting. Bharati’s is the only printable comment made by a DMK leader against the Governor.

The situation is no different in Kerala where the CPI(M) has fielded its student wing leaders and former ministers to take on the Governor. Waving black flags at the Governor, shouting obscene slogans against him, and putting banners across the thoroughfares through which the Governor travels have become part of the daily routine in Kerala. The CPI(M) is annoyed with the Governor for delaying the party diktat to appoint persons of their choice as vice-chancellors and faculty members in the universities.

The move to appoint a former chief justice of Kerala High Court as chairman of the State Human Rights Commission instead of favours received from the former too was spiked by the Governor and this led the chief minister to deploy MM Mani MLA and former minister to tackle Arif Md Khan. Mani has not let his master down and unleashed a string of expletives. 

No State other than Tamil Nadu has called for the cancellation of NEET and this is being seen as a ploy to help the management of private medical colleges (most of them owned by DMK leaders or their relations) to sell seats at exorbitant rates. The CPI(M) staging the seminar “Cutting South” in March 2023 was further proof of the party’s intention to launch a separate Kerala Republic.

(The writer is a special correspondent wtih The Pioneer; views are personal)