New Delhi
13 December 2005
The "exceptionalism" of south India and how the southern states
strengthened the idea of India and nationhood was brought out in a well-
crafted talk given by Dr AR Venkatachalapathy on November 11.
Dwelling on the subject of "South India and the Nation," Dr
Venkatachalapathy observed that the southern states have contributed in
no small measure to the "deepening of Indian democracy and of Indian
pluralism."
"[The] South has made India democratic, a much likable place," asserted
the associate professor at the Madras Institute of Developmental Studies,
Chennai, who is also described as a young social and cultural historian
and author.
That exceptionalism was not a recent phenomenon, and therefore as old
as the idea of South India itself, was borne out from the fact that on the
eve of India's Independence, Periyar said "August 15" should be declared
a day of mourning.
Dr Venkatachalapathy noted that South India has generally bucked the
trend and cited how the southern states "held out [the] Hindutva
juggernaut" and discovered their regional identities before the Hindi
heartland stumbled upon theirs.
The success of DMK as a political party, he felt, defined the "emergence
of regional forces in south India ahead of north India" as did that party's
victory in the 1967 election and the advent of "rainbow coalition."
The talk was organised as a part of the "Independent India" series, in
collaboration with The New Indian Foundation, Bangalore. Dr
Ramachandra Guha chaired the discussion.
He, however, sounded a note of caution when he said that the "imposition
of one India is inimical to the larger interest of nation." He believed only a
"truly federal state can make India strong".
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