India's North-South Divide Is Major Political Problem.
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(Bloomberg View) -- When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the southern city of Chennai recently, he must’ve been startled by the welcome he received. Half the city, it seemed, had turned out to wave
black flags at his motorcade, as well as banners that read “Go Back, Modi.” When the prime minister hopped into a helicopter, the crowds cleverly sent up black balloons in its wake.
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The vitriol wasn’t entirely personal. Protesters in Chennai -- capital of the prosperous state of Tamil Nadu -- had singled out Modi as the most high-profile representative of a New Delhi establishment that many Tamils have begun to see as biased against them.
Marchers were angry about a very local issue -- the federal government’s
reluctance to implement a recent Supreme Court order dealing with water-sharing between Tamil Nadu and the neighboring state of Karnataka. But disenchantment in India’s south isn’t limited to a single issue or, indeed, a single state. The BJP is on the defensive in Karnataka as well, where the incumbent chief minister has sought to turn coming elections into a referendum on sub-national pride.
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India's North-South Divide Is Major Political Problem
