As the vote counting commences on the 4th of June, several opposition leaders and their media loyalists have already started suffering a meltdown. India Today ‘journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai threatened to leave the studio in the middle of election coverage, as his colleague Rahul Kanwal schooled him about the divisive north-south narrative peddled by Congress leaders.
Discussing how the BJP candidates would perform in South Indian states, Rahul Kanwal said that fake narratives were peddled and “efforts were made to project South India as a separate story and North India as a separate story…so many [leaders] from the opposition said that no Modi magic doesn’t work in the south the peninsula is separate, north is separate, as they see it as two separate countries…”
This, however, miffed the Congress loyalist Rajdeep, who in turn, said Rahul Kanwal arrived at the show as an “angry young man” today. When confronted by Kanwal if Congress leaders did not make comments like “South India is separate”, Sardesai instead of accepting the truth as it is, decided to advise Kanwal to be careful while making such observations.
Rajdeep Sardesai got grilled early in the morning 😂 pic.twitter.com/e183VaIwZ0
— BALA (@erbmjha) June 4, 2024
Panelist on the show, Rajat Sethi mentioned how after the interim budget was announced, I.N.D.I. Alliance parties in South India put up huge hoardings saying “Zero rupees to Tamil Nadu” and he asked how could they place such hoardings, Sardesai continued to deny it and downplayed Congress leader DK Suresh’s “South India will become a separate country” remarks as ‘unfortunate’ statement.
Instead of accepting the truth, Rajdeep Sardesai deviated the discussion to “numbers” and reiterated that he does not support DK Suresh’s ‘unfortunate’ comment. However, when Sethi said that it was not an unfortunate but seditious statement, Rajdeep Sardesai chose to threaten the co-panelist that he would leave the studio, instead of calling out the opposition parties for making divisive comments and fanning hatred between north and south India.
It is pertinent to recall on 1st February this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Interim Budget for 2024. While reacting to the budget, Congress leader DK Suresh accused the centre of not releasing funds to South Indian states. He also went on to say that in future, South Indian states may demand a separate country for themselves and become a separate nation.
During a media interaction, DK Suresh said that the money collected from Southern states is being used in Northern states. The Congress MP further warned that if this alleged ‘injustice’ continues, they (Southern states) will be forced to demand a separate country.
Notably, along with “zero rupees to Tamil Nadu” hoardings, as mentioned by Rajat Sethi, the leaders of the ruling DMK party distributed “zero” halwa pack with “zero rupees to Tamil Nadu” text and DMK flags.
In December last year, Congress ecosystem had stoked up the north-south divide to rationalise its defeat in assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. OpIndia reported how the ecosystem tried to vilify Hindus, north Indians, and even Hindi language since the north Indians did not vote for Congress in those elections.
