New Delhi: In February 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the Indian National Congress party was trying to create a rift between North India and South India. The PM had said that the Opposition party’s government in the southern Indian state of Karnataka was aiming to build a narrative around the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that could be dangerous for the country.

“Today I want to share my pain on a specific matter…the way language is being spoken these days to break the country, these new narratives are being made for political gains. An entire state is speaking this language, nothing can be worse for the country than this...what language are we using,” PM Modi had said in Rajya Sabha. Two months earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had protested in New Delhi over the alleged “financial discrimination” against the southern state.

PM Modi asked the Upper House of Parliament that if a vaccine is developed in one part of the country, does someone say it can’t be administered in other parts? “What is this thinking? And it is very painful that such language is emerging from a national party, it is very sad. The Congress, which had openly strangled democracy in its greed for power, the Congress which had dismissed democratically elected governments dozens of times overnight, the Congress which had even tried to lock newspapers, is now trying to break the country,” said PM Modi.

The North vs South narrative-building by the Congress continues, alleges the BJP, even as India gears up for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 in April and May.

North vs South Narrative: Election Stunt by the Congress?

Why is Congress peddling the North versus South narrative? Is there an attempt to divide India? Republic Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami put forth these questions in The Debate on Friday.

Rahul Gandhi has made several comments about South India being better than North India. “Women are treated better in the South as compared to North India,” Rahul Gandhi had said in 2019.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao said in the Arnab Goswami debate that the South is an entirely different region with different cultures. The North vs South debate is age-old, he said, with the Aryan culture coming into India. “How are there more temples in South India?” he asked, questioning the differences in the culture and customs of North and South India.

‘Rahul Gandhi keen on South India, as it helped him save his political career’

The BJP added that the only reason Rahul Gandhi is so keen on South India and Wayanad is because it has helped him revive his political career, which was over in 2019 (before the General Elections).

Arnab Goswami concluded the debate saying let’s not get into the North vs South debate ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024, which will create a divide in the country.