Moves of the South

The robust wins of regional parties in Tamil Nadu, Andhra and of a national party-led regional coalition in Kerala play a crucial rule in shaping the Indian Parliament

- Chandan Gowda

OFFERING a much-needed breather to the Indian polity, the Lok Sabha election results have created valuable scope for course correction in the country’s slide away from democratic politics. The crucial necessity of parties like the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal-United (U) for the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition government alongside a numerically stronger opposition in the Parliament, in particular, the near-doubled representation of the Congress and the enhanced presence of regional parties, is likely to halt what seemed an unstoppable Hindu majoritarian politics over the last decade.

How did south India fare vis-à-vis the election outcome that has offered a relief of sorts to democratically minded Indians?

Winning all 40 seats, the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its allies didn’t cede a single seat to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or to the latter’s former coalition partner, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The home state of Dravidian politics showed the limits of outsized symbolic campaigns lacking a grassroots base. Be it installing the sengol, the royal sceptre from Tamil Nadu handed to the PM by Tamil priests, in the new Parliament building or PM Modi avoiding Hindi in his speeches in Tamil Nadu or his listening to the recitation of the