It is very difficult to be a national party in Tamil Nadu as whatever these parties do look totally antagonistic towards Tamilians and their sentiments. Now that Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami has announced that he would try to meet the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for seeking some more water in the cauvery to save the withering crops in the delta region of Tamil Nadu, this provides one more opportunity for the Dravidian parties to expose the double-standards and also double talk of the national parties like the Congress and the BJP.
It is very difficult to be a national party in Tamil Nadu as whatever these parties do look totally antagonistic towards Tamilians and their sentiments. Now that Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami has announced that he would try to meet the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for seeking some more water in the cauvery to save the withering crops in the delta region of Tamil Nadu, this provides one more opportunity for the Dravidian parties to expose the double-standards and also double talk of the national parties like the Congress and the BJP.
Though it was the Congress party that spearheaded the freedom movement in the country, when the Congress Premier C.Rajagopalachari tried to make Hindi compulsory in the schools of Madras Presidency in 1938, he had to face severe opposition and had to beat a hasty retreat. Then the opposition forces were mobilised by E.V.Ramasamy Naicker, affectionately called 'Periyar' by his followers.
Interestingly, it was Periyar’s disciples like C.N.Annadurai and M.Karunanidhi who fought tooth and nail another attempt by the Congress to make Hindi compulsory in schools in 1965. The Tamili leaders branded the Congress move as 'Hindi imposition'. Both these attempts by the Congress cost some lives apart from earning the antipathy of the Tamilians.
Apart from Hindi, the serious drought and the resultant rise in price of rice led to the downfall of the Congress in 1967 Assembly Elections. For the past 50 years, Congress could not stage any recovery at all. On the other hand its vote share has been shrinking gradually and it now has only 8 MLAs, that too thanks to its alliance with the DMK.
BJP has hardly any presence in the State. All that it could manage in Tamil Nadu is only about 3 % vote share despite being the ruling party not only at the Centre but also in 19 States.
Tamil Nadu has the misfortune of having rivers whose catchment areas are outside its boundaries.
For both the Congress and the BJP, Cauvery water is a very ticklish issue. Both feel that they stand a very good chance of ruling in Karnataka while it is virtually nil in Tamil Nadu.
That is why tall Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu like Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyar talk only about States 2000 km away like Kashmir and also pillory BJP Governments and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with pitiless humour. But they have no guts to talk about the Cauvery imbroglio and demand the due share of water for Tamil Nadu. They are afraid of rubbing Karnataka Congress on the wrong side. It was the UPA Government headed by the Congress which was ruling at the Centre when the Final verdict of the Cauvery Tribunal was released in 2007. Despite being the ruling party in the next term also, it took 6 more years for it to gazette the Final verdict.
And the successor BJP Government is yet to constitute the Cauvery Management Board though it has been in the saddle for the past more than three years. That is also because of its vested interest.
Both the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka are united in denying any more water in the Cauvery to Tamil Nadu.
Already the Irrigation Minister of Karnataka has declared that his State does not have water even for Bangaloreans to drink. Hence, he has made it amply clear that the initiative of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister will not fructify.
While Tamil Nadu BJP president Dr.Tamilisai Soundrarajan keeps on claiming that Tamil Nadu would get Cauvery water, it was her party MP and maverick Dr.Subramanian Swamy who was honest enough to say that it will not happen. What Tamilisai fails to understand is that she cannot step into Karnataka if she were to claim even a cusec of Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu.
I remember the early 1980s when the then TN Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran utilised his friendship with the then Chief Minister of Karnataka R.K.Hegde and got 5 tmcft of water.
Similarly, it was his friendship with the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T.Ramarao that resulted in Telugu Ganga project to get drinking water to Chennai tapping the Krishna River in AP.
But gone are the days of friendship with the Chief Ministers of other parties.
Any number of attempts to get Cauvery water through the Apex Court have been only partially useful.
Neither the BJP nor the Congress, which has been ruling Karnataka, has been willing to part with any water. They were even prepared to face contempt of court. This is despite their party ruling at the Centre.
Apart from the Cauvery, the Mullaperiyar reservoir issue with Kerala has been festering Tamil Nadu for long.In this case also, Tamil Nadu got a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court and it has been permitted to store water up to 142 ft. But, as the reservoir is very much within the Kerala boundary, it keeps on needling Tamil Nadu saying that the old dam would not sustain and would be extremely risky for the population of several districts. Hence, it has expressed its inclination to construct even a new dam. The Kerala Assembly even passed a resolution unanimously that water should not stored beyond 135 ft.
Who are the parties in Kerala involved in this imbroglio? It is the UDF headed by the Congress and the LDF headed by the Communist parties. Both these fronts are united in demanding a new dam across the Mullaperiyar river and both are against Tamil Nadu storing water beyond 135 ft.
A CPI-M leader told me that it would be impossible for any party to sacrifice the interests of its State. Hence, for the Communist parties it is the interests of Kerala that matter. Of course, both the Communist parties are just only fringe elements in Tamil Nadu politics
Thus it is the regional parties in Tamil Nadu that are left with the responsibility of fighting for the rights of the State.
BJP should realise that as long as its leaders speak only in Hindi, it would find it very difficult to grow in Tamil Nadu. Congress leaders have been proving time and again that they are only interested in capturing the Central Government. Hence, we can say without any fear of contradiction that it might take a very long time for the national parties to make their presence felt in Tamil Nadu.
Though it was the Congress party that spearheaded the freedom movement in the country, when the Congress Premier C.Rajagopalachari tried to make Hindi compulsory in the schools of Madras Presidency in 1938, he had to face severe opposition and had to beat a hasty retreat. Then the opposition forces were mobilised by E.V.Ramasamy Naicker, affectionately called 'Periyar' by his followers.
Interestingly, it was Periyar’s disciples like C.N.Annadurai and M.Karunanidhi who fought tooth and nail another attempt by the Congress to make Hindi compulsory in schools in 1965. The Tamili leaders branded the Congress move as 'Hindi imposition'. Both these attempts by the Congress cost some lives apart from earning the antipathy of the Tamilians.
Apart from Hindi, the serious drought and the resultant rise in price of rice led to the downfall of the Congress in 1967 Assembly Elections. For the past 50 years, Congress could not stage any recovery at all. On the other hand its vote share has been shrinking gradually and it now has only 8 MLAs, that too thanks to its alliance with the DMK.
BJP has hardly any presence in the State. All that it could manage in Tamil Nadu is only about 3 % vote share despite being the ruling party not only at the Centre but also in 19 States.
Tamil Nadu has the misfortune of having rivers whose catchment areas are outside its boundaries.
For both the Congress and the BJP, Cauvery water is a very ticklish issue. Both feel that they stand a very good chance of ruling in Karnataka while it is virtually nil in Tamil Nadu.
That is why tall Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu like Chidambaram and Mani Shankar Aiyar talk only about States 2000 km away like Kashmir and also pillory BJP Governments and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with pitiless humour. But they have no guts to talk about the Cauvery imbroglio and demand the due share of water for Tamil Nadu. They are afraid of rubbing Karnataka Congress on the wrong side. It was the UPA Government headed by the Congress which was ruling at the Centre when the Final verdict of the Cauvery Tribunal was released in 2007. Despite being the ruling party in the next term also, it took 6 more years for it to gazette the Final verdict.
And the successor BJP Government is yet to constitute the Cauvery Management Board though it has been in the saddle for the past more than three years. That is also because of its vested interest.
Both the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka are united in denying any more water in the Cauvery to Tamil Nadu.
Already the Irrigation Minister of Karnataka has declared that his State does not have water even for Bangaloreans to drink. Hence, he has made it amply clear that the initiative of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister will not fructify.
While Tamil Nadu BJP president Dr.Tamilisai Soundrarajan keeps on claiming that Tamil Nadu would get Cauvery water, it was her party MP and maverick Dr.Subramanian Swamy who was honest enough to say that it will not happen. What Tamilisai fails to understand is that she cannot step into Karnataka if she were to claim even a cusec of Cauvery water for Tamil Nadu.
I remember the early 1980s when the then TN Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran utilised his friendship with the then Chief Minister of Karnataka R.K.Hegde and got 5 tmcft of water.
Similarly, it was his friendship with the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T.Ramarao that resulted in Telugu Ganga project to get drinking water to Chennai tapping the Krishna River in AP.
But gone are the days of friendship with the Chief Ministers of other parties.
Any number of attempts to get Cauvery water through the Apex Court have been only partially useful.
Neither the BJP nor the Congress, which has been ruling Karnataka, has been willing to part with any water. They were even prepared to face contempt of court. This is despite their party ruling at the Centre.
Apart from the Cauvery, the Mullaperiyar reservoir issue with Kerala has been festering Tamil Nadu for long.In this case also, Tamil Nadu got a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court and it has been permitted to store water up to 142 ft. But, as the reservoir is very much within the Kerala boundary, it keeps on needling Tamil Nadu saying that the old dam would not sustain and would be extremely risky for the population of several districts. Hence, it has expressed its inclination to construct even a new dam. The Kerala Assembly even passed a resolution unanimously that water should not stored beyond 135 ft.
Who are the parties in Kerala involved in this imbroglio? It is the UDF headed by the Congress and the LDF headed by the Communist parties. Both these fronts are united in demanding a new dam across the Mullaperiyar river and both are against Tamil Nadu storing water beyond 135 ft.
A CPI-M leader told me that it would be impossible for any party to sacrifice the interests of its State. Hence, for the Communist parties it is the interests of Kerala that matter. Of course, both the Communist parties are just only fringe elements in Tamil Nadu politics
Thus it is the regional parties in Tamil Nadu that are left with the responsibility of fighting for the rights of the State.
BJP should realise that as long as its leaders speak only in Hindi, it would find it very difficult to grow in Tamil Nadu. Congress leaders have been proving time and again that they are only interested in capturing the Central Government. Hence, we can say without any fear of contradiction that it might take a very long time for the national parties to make their presence felt in Tamil Nadu.