A Platform for Dravidian Parties.

In the previous avtar of this blog - there have been literal fist fights on the issue of linguistic chauvinism vs 'manila suyaatchi' aka state's powers in a Federal structure. But the more I read the news on India the more I believe there is an ideal opportunity for 're-using' this plank, albeit in a wonderfully packaged way - complete with punch lines in classical Tamil.

Fact 1 : Four states in the Indian Union contribute 80% of the GDP.
Fact 2 : The representation of these four states in the Lok Sabha put together is around 20%.

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadia and Punjab have been bearing the burden of an inefficient nation for too long and without enough political clout. Or so can the public be easily made to believe. I am not an expert, not even a passing observer, of the 'state level' politics if the other three states. But I do have a fair understanding of the way Dravidian parties gather votes. So let me go ahead and propose a political platform for the Dravidian parties for the next 20 years, with one eye on history ....

C.N. Annadurai, was one of the first proponents of the idea - "maaanila suyatchi", translated it literally reads "State's Self Rule". Critic's might find fault with his linguistic chauvinism, but I think it was because of his stand that India is even half a decent nation today(that is a another post). To quote Swaminathan Aiyer : "he saved India from Hindi imperialism, ensured the continuation of English, and so made possible the outsourcing revolution that is moving lakhs of jobs from the West to India". But facts apart - whipping passions just works in politics.

Among the many follies of our constitution, it had set 1965 as the year in which Hindi would replace "and English" as the only national language. When this date neared and the politics in the north made sense to have a Angrezi Hatao agitation, it made even more sense to have Anti Hindi Agitations in Tamil Nadu. With a rather smart politician in Annadurai, the agitation was so successful that it continues to put one of the two Dravidian parties in power in 2005.

But there is a distinct lack of issues based on the passionate "Dravidian Ideology" these days, and a little stroking of that linguistic passion driven by economic details might just make the next Annadurai. The new ideology would

1. Detail the economic achievements of the state - put in perspective with that of the other's.

2. "Explain" how the famed "Tamil Kodai Vallal" image has been taken for granted. Whoa - bring in Pari and the rest of the sangam literature, that is enough rhetoric for 3 elections. Finding someone to blame for failure to achieve the moon is an idea that will work - be it Hitler or Marx or Andorra or Dubya.

3. Propose that the state will put a freeze on all collections of Income tax and evict the central tax officials in the state.

4. Abolish all Tax collections except Sales Tax( believe me, this can be done in the state).

5. Then negotiate with the Centre.

A few self immolations here and there, and a fervent public display passion will make the guy who caused this - the next Anna. The result of all this can only be a positive influence on the whole nation as it would finally find a wrong reason to do the right thing.