NORTH VS SOUTH DIVIDE

The North versus South divide is becoming more prominent in the current budget session with two of the government’s proposed moves being viewed with a geographical divide. The first of course is the proposed delimitation plan to redraw constituencies as per the population to ensure that one vote gets one value across the country. This will lead to an increase in the number of seats in the Parliament and therein lies the fear. The South is worried – and rightly so- that it will be punished for effectively implementing population control.

Already there is a disproportionate representation between the North and the South in the current Lok Sabha with a tally of 129/543. This figure was arrived at by the 1971 Census that was frozen in place till 2026. Now the current government wants to undertake a fresh census and redraw the boundaries. The number of seats in the Lok Sabha could go up to 800 plus going by the norm of 10 lakh people in each constituency. Although the Home Minister has assured the Southern States that their numbers would not diminish, former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has pointed out that he has also not assured them that their numbers will not increase.
It is a fact that the BJP is stronger in the North while the Opposition holds sway in the South. The Congress has as many of 53 of its 99 seats from the South and Central India than the North. It is easy to see where their fears are stemming from making the North South divide also one of BJP vs the Opposition.

The other North South divide is over the three language formula suggested by the New Education Policy. While the NEP does not state that Hindi is mandatory the South is worried and sees this as a backdoor imposition of Hindi in the south.
It would be interesting to see how these two initiatives play out on the floor of the house, with the DMK spearheading the protests. Don’t forget that Tamil Nadu goes to polls in 2026 and the BJP has a limited presence in the state.