Decoding The Growing North-South Rift, Its Impact On Tamil Nadu Politics And Chief Minister MK Stalin’s Plans News24 –

Bharat Ek Soch: A growing divide between North and South is quite evident these days. MK Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has recently sparked a fresh controversy by dropping the official Rupee symbol ‘₹’ from logo of its state budget 2025-26. Calling the move as ‘completely avoidable example of language and regional chauvinism’, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday strongly hit out at the Chief Minister.

The uproar comes at a time when there is already an ongoing intensifying linguistic standoff with the Central Government over the three-language formula under the National Education Policy. The states of South India are already raising objections on the basis of delimitation. This situation raises critical questions regarding the fear of political marginalization: “Why did the Stalin government replace the rupee symbol in the Tamil Nadu budget 2025-26? Why is the DMK intensifying its opposition to Hindi Language once again? Why is the three-language formula under NEP perceived as Modi government’s strategy to impose Hindi nationwide?”

Growing North-South Rift

The first article of our constitution establishes a federal structure for governance. It clearly states “India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States…” The rights of both center and the states are clearly mentioned in the constitution. With time, changes have been welcomed through constitutional amendments. However, the North-South divide continues to emerge from time to time. Tamil Nadu came under the spotlight when State Finance Minister Thangam Thenarasu presented the state budget on 14th March.

Notably, instead of the official rupee symbol, ‘Ru’, the first letter of the Tamil word ‘Rubaai’ was used in the budget. Alongside the logo, ‘Ellorkum Ellam’, meaning ‘Everything for all’ was written. This raises the question: Why did the Stalin government do this? Ironically, the rupee symbol was adopted in 2010 and was designed by Th. D Udaya Kumar, the son of former DMK MLA N. Dharmalingam. Lets explore how the political landscape is taking a turn after the rupee symbol was dropped in the Tamil Nadu budget?

“Why Didn’t It Protest Back In 2010?” – Sitharaman

In a social media post on Thursday, Nirmala Sitharaman asked, “If the DMK has a problem with ‘₹’, why didn’t it protest back in 2010 when it was officially adopted under the UPA government, at a time when the DMK was part of the ruling alliance at the Centre?” Meanwhile, the Union Finance Minister also tried to explain the meaning of the Tamil word ‘Rupaai’. Politicians of several Hindi-speaking states have found a focal point of debate amid the ongoing Hindi-Tamil controversy. Significantly, a major reason for the language dispute could be the upcoming 2026 elections. At present, DMK’s hold in Tamil Nadu remains strong and intact.

Stalin Views BJP As A ‘Potential Threat’

After Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, AIADMK has been steadily weakening. In the Lok Sabha elections held during last year, BJP fielded its candidates on 29 out of 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, but failed to secure a single seat on the party’s symbol. However, BJP remains third largest party in terms of vote share. Given this, BJP sees great potential in the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly elections 2026. The ‘saffron party’ is also making efforts to connect with the people of Tamil Nadu through Kashi Tamil Sangamam. Therefore, Stalin views the Bharatiya Janata Party as a potential threat.

Face-Off Between Central And Stalin-Led Govt

In Tamil politics, Anti-Hindi sentiment is not a new phenomenon. In the budget, the Stalin government announced its plans to translate 500 selected Tamil books into other languages ​​through the State Textbook Corporation. The budget also proposed organizing World Tamil Olympiad annually. This move comes amid an ongoing dispute between MK Stalin and Modi government over the three-language formula under the National Education Policy 2020. This issue sparked an uproar in the beginning of the second phase of the budget session of Parliament.

Dharmendra Pradhan Blames DMK

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday accused the DMK leaders of playing with the future of TN students. Some of his remarks were strongly rejected by The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). As the uproar intensified, the Education Minister had to take back his words. It is now important to understand the three language formula in the National Education Policy? Why does the Stalin government of Tamil Nadu feel that this is an interference in the linguistic autonomy of the state? Additionally, when and how did anti-Hindi storm start in the state?

DMK’s Delimitation Concerns

The anti-Hindi movement has played a major role in DMK’s rise in Tamil Nadu. Apart from its opposition of Hindi language, a major concern of South Indian States is the upcoming delimitation. DMK demands that delimitation should not be based only on population but a variety of other factors such as economic performance, GSDP, per capita income, improvement in infrastructure, etc. This argument stems from Chief Minister MK Stalin’s concern over growing delimitation. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has clearly mentioned that the parliamentary representation of any South Indian State, including Tamil Nadu, will not be reduced. But, how will this be possible without changing the basis of delimitation? No one is able to understand this formula. In such a situation, the question that emerges now is, “What will be the population ratio on each parliamentary seat?”

Stalin’s Statement On Having 16 Children

In democratic politics, a low population is seen as a weakness in maintaining the balance of power. In the 543-seat Lok Sabha, only 131 MPs are from South India. On the other hand, if we add the Lok Sabha seats of the three states of UP, Bihar and Jharkhand, the total is 134. It is being estimated that after delimitation, the number of seats of Hindi-speaking states will drastically increase and the political dominance of South India in the Parliament will significantly reduce. Perhaps this could be the reason that a while ago, Chief Minister Stalin asked the people of Tamil Nadu to have 16 children. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu has also appealed to have more children.

BJP Struggles To Gain Power In South India

During PM Modi’s third term, lotus bloomed in Delhi after 26 years and BJP ousted CM Naveen Patnaik from power in Odisha after 24 years. But, despite all these, the saffron party could overthrow the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government. Lotus couldn’t even completely bloom across South India. BJP is quietly working on expansion plans in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana. To stop BJP, the South Indian parties are focusing on several issues in their own way. But, language and culture are two issues on which the states of South India get connected. In such a situation, there is a strong possibility that in the coming days, the divide between Tamil vs Hindi and South vs North will intensify. Calculating their electoral gains and losses, political giants keep fueling the politics of opposition and division. Should not such a way be found in the Amrit Kaal of India, so that the gap of distrust between the Center and the states can be reduced?