‘Local versus non-local’: The divisive agenda of political occasions

On twenty fifth May 2023, Tamil Nadu’s chief minister MK Stalin wrote a letter to Union Minister of Cooperation Amit Shah requesting him to direct AMUL to desist from procuring milk from Aavin’s milk shed house. After the Karnataka unit of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular), MK Stalin of Dravid Munnetra Kazhagham was seen opposing the dairy mannequin of Gujarat inside the determine of saving the native cooperative sector inside the respective states.

This letter by MK Stalin has come days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray acknowledged that riots don’t occur in areas the place Marathi Muslims reside. Mamata Banerjee amongst totally different regional leaders is well-known for participating within the politics of locals versus non-locals. Against this backdrop, it turns into important to overview such incidents inside the nation the place leaders of the opposition and regional occasions have taken up the native versus non-local state of affairs and confirm the approach behind it if any, nonetheless utterly totally different for every involved.

MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu

In his letter to Amit Shah, MK Stalin wrote, “In Tamil Nadu, like in other States with strong dairy cooperatives, a three-tier dairy cooperative system is functioning effectively since 1981 for the benefit of the rural milk producers and consumers. Aavin is our apex cooperative marketing federation. Under the ambit of Aavin co-operative, 9,673 Milk Producers Co-operative Societies are functioning in rural areas. They procure 35 LLPD of milk from about 4.5 lakh pouring members. Under this current arrangement, the milk producers are assured of remunerative and uniform prices throughout the year by the cooperative societies.”

MK Stalin added, “Recently, It has come to our notice that the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union (Amul), has utilised their multi-state cooperative license, to install chilling centres and a processing plant In Krishnagiri District and has planned to procure milk through FPOs and SHGs in and around Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts in our State. It has been a norm in India to let cooperatives thrive without Infringing on each other’s milk-shed area. Such cross-procurement goes against the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and will exacerbate problems for consumers given the prevailing milk shortage scenario in the country.”

The dedication of AMUL to operate in Tamil Nadu is unfortunate, detrimental to the curiosity of Aavin and might create unhealthy opponents between the cooperatives.

Regional cooperatives have been the bedrock of dairy enchancment inside the states and are greater positioned to engage and… pic.twitter.com/yn2pKINofO

— M.Okay.Stalin (@mkstalin) May 25, 2023

MK Stalin further acknowledged, “his act of AMUL Infringes on Aavin’s milk shed area which has been nurtured in true cooperative spirit over decades. Therefore, I request your urgent intervention to direct Amul to desist from milk procurement from the milk shed area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu with immediate effect.”

While the assertion of regional identification and the vocal opposition to Hindi has on a regular basis been the core of DMK politics, MK Stalin has tried to current an monetary and financial angle to regionalism as correctly. The native versus non-local state of affairs in Tamil Nadu is thus highlighted inside the current AMUL versus Aavin row.

With the success of this native vs non-local narrative in West Bengal and Karnataka, hurting the nationwide integrity of the nation would not seem to matter, as long as regional occasions can hearth up regional sentiments to win political brownie elements and eventually, the elections. Stalin should not be the first particular person to fireside up such cock-eyed regionalism for the sake of politics. The native vs non-local state of affairs seems to have been became a template by regional occasions who need to keep BJP at bay.

Raj Thackeray in Maharashtra

When Raj Thackeray started his celebration he made it very clear inside the very determine of his political outfit that irrespective of ‘Navnirman’ his ‘Sena’ wills to do could be ‘Maharashtra’ centric. But whereas doing so, an urge for meals for Marathi votes the junior Thackeray had, has subtly and unknowingly reworked into ignorance within the path of Dharmic factors as he tried to appease what he calls Marathi Muslims inside the newest controversy spherical Trimbakeshwar temple – a Jyotirlinga inside the Nashik district of Maharashtra.

On thirteenth May 2023, a gaggle of Muslims barged into the Shiva temple beneath the guise of offering fumes of frankincense to the Hindu deity as Muslims had taken out a procession after Sandal rituals at a neighborhood Dargah all through its annual Urs. Reacting to this incident, Raj Thackeray acknowledged, “If it is an age-old tradition it is pointless to put a stop to it. This is an issue of the people of Trimbakeshwar. There are hundreds of mandirs and masjids in Maharashtra where you see such syncretism.”

He added, “These are traditions that need to be continued. Our religion is not so weak that it will get corrupted if a person from another religion enters a temple. I have gone to various masjids. It is in some of our temples that people from a certain caste are only allowed entry into the sanctum sanctorum. People who are hyping this issue I feel their outlook towards religion is rather constricted.”

He concluded by saying, “Wherever Marathi Muslims live, there is no communal tension. This is my experience. They live there. Their kids learn in the local schools. They live peacefully. That’s why there is no communal tension in such places. But some people disrupt this harmony. In a Hindu-majority state, how can a Hindu be under threat?”

Raj Thackeray’s MNS would rely on Marathi versus non-Marathi factors inside the preliminary phases. Its core state of affairs was the migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh coming to Mumbai and shut by cities like Thane, Pune, and Nashik and seizing job alternate options there. MNS moreover blamed them for the elevated crime charge inside the cities and the state.

In the most recent two-three years, Raj Thackeray bought right here once more to vocal Hindutva and started addressing factors like loudspeakers in mosques and illegal Mazars. But in an try to lure Marathi Muslims, he appropriated an incident whereby Muslims tried to barge proper right into a temple that was taken once more after an prolonged battle.

MNS seems unaware of the reality that Marathi Muslims is an imaginary time interval and will solely be in distinction with a time interval like Arab Hindus. For all wise capabilities, it is ‘Muslims in Maharashtra’, which seems evident from the examples in assorted cities all through the Marathi state. But in an attempt to give attention to Muslim votes in Maharashtra, Raj Thackeray – the cartoonist – went on to differentiate between Marathi Muslims and non-Marathi Muslims.

Also, there have been so many incidents of communal tensions inside the interiors of Maharashtra. Yavatmal, Akola, Amravati, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar are places inside the state the place Muslims are as native and Marathi as Raj Thackeray expects them to be. But their actions are screaming that they relate themselves additional to Islam than the Marathi vibe.

MNS has not vocally condemned the acts of violence devoted by Muslims in these cities inside the newest earlier. It considerably hottest to play the native versus non-local card even contained in the so-called minority group inside the state.

Congress and JDS in Karnataka

While Congress identifies itself as a nationwide celebration, it has very properly carried out the native versus non-local politics on assorted occasions. It displayed its core competencies of divide and rule in Karnataka as a result of it matched voice with the Janata Dal (Secular) in opposing AMUL’s milk provide plans inside the capital of the Kannada state.

Before the Karnataka assembly elections, which had been held in May this 12 months, social media was rife with misinformation about Amul taking up the State’s native dairy mannequin Nandini. The controversy began on April 5 when the official Twitter cope with of Amul posted an infographic with the caption, “The #Amul family is bringing in some Taaza into #Bengaluru city. More updates coming in soon. #LaunchAlert”. The archive of the tweet could also be accessed proper right here.

In actuality, in December 2022, Union Home Minister Amit Shah often known as for bigger cooperation between Amul and Nandini, which is owned by the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF). He acknowledged, “Amul and KMF together will work towards ensuring there is a primary dairy in every village of the state. Amul and KMF have to work together to boost the cooperative dairy in Karnataka.”

But his assertion was deliberately misconstrued to counsel that Amul could buy Nandini shortly and thus promote the native dairy mannequin to ‘North Indian businessmen.’ Some vested pursuits went on to say that Amul is trying to ‘root out’ Nandini and thus undermine the Kannadiga identification and custom. The controversy was re-ignited after Amul tweeted about its plans to launch its mannequin in Bengaluru.

Opposition political leaders in Karnataka tried to utilize the Amul-Nandini controversy to whip up regionalism ahead of the state elections. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah even appealed to the Kannadigas to boycott the Amul mannequin. Congress chief DK Shivakumar urged an even bigger conspiracy inside the entry of Amul into the Karnataka market.

While speaking regarding the matter, Siddaramaiah had acknowledged, “In addition to language treason by the imposition of Hindi and land treason by trespassing within the state borders, now the BJP government is going to betray the farmers by shutting down Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), which is the livelihood of millions of dairy farming families in the country.”

Janata Dal (Secular) chief H D Kumaraswamy moreover resorted to regionalism over the Amul-Nandini row. “Amul is being pushed into Karnataka from the backdoor with the support of the Central government. Amul is strangulating the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and the farmers. Kannada people should rebel against Amul,” he acknowledged.

“We as Kannadigas should oppose Amul and protect the interest of Karnataka farmers unitedly. Our people and customers should use Nandini products on priority and save the livelihood of farmers,” HD Kumaraswamy further claimed. However, Congress – and by no means JDS – effectively milked this controversy as a result of the grand celebration bought right here to vitality in Karnataka after the most recent elections.

Tejashwi Yadav and Nitish Kumar in Bihar

In 2015, Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Congress bought right here collectively inside the Bihar state assembly elections in opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Calling BJP led by Amit Shaha and Narendra Modi ‘Bahari’ which implies Outsider, the alliance requested Bihari people to vote for them. Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav profoundly peddled this narrative as two of the tallest figures inside the BJP hail from Gujarat.

It is notable that sooner than leaving NDA in 2013, Nitish Kumar dominated the state in an alliance with the BJP for 8 years. Even after breaking the alliance with RJD and Congress in 2017, he remained in alliance with the BJP till 2022. BJP leaders from Bihar – and by no means from Gujarat – had been sharing vitality with him all this whereas. Still, inside the 2015 assembly elections of Bihar, he nourished the narrative of the native versus outsiders. Tejashwi Yadav sometimes makes use of it even now.

Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal

Mamata Banerjee – the chief minister of West Bengal and the president of the Trinamool Congress Party added a variety of flavours to this locals versus non-locals politics. She acknowledged in the middle of the run-up for the 2021 assembly elections of West Bengal, “Gujaratis are trying to capture Bengal by bringing goons from UP and Bihar.” Mamata Banerjee moreover vowed to not let her State flip into Gujarat. The West Bengal CM emphasised, “We will not allow Bengal to become like Gujarat.” She made the remarks all through an election rally inside the Howrah district.

It was not the first time that she was blaming outsiders and carried out the politics of locals versus non-locals. She indulged in such points since 2019. She has blamed ‘outsiders’ for incidents of violence and unrest that occurred inside the State. The purpose behind it was to evade accountability for failing to supply safety and security to the residents of West Bengal.

It moreover had the unintended consequence of instilling a heightened sense of concern contained in the Bengali group, suggesting that their custom, language, and safety had been being threatened by migrants from totally different states. Although this tactic of regionalism and subsequent polarization proved useful for the Mamata Banerjee authorities inside the 2021 West Bengal elections, it further divided society and left ‘outsiders’ susceptible to every casual discrimination and exact bodily assaults.

Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh

What is so native and non-local in and about Hindi speaking state of Uttar Pradesh which is surrounded by so many comparable states? Well, that question would possibly come up in a single’s ideas till he or she is an Akhilesh Yadav or a Rahul Gandhi. During the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections of 2017, these two scions of their respective occasions led a advertising marketing campaign run by the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance. The advertising marketing campaign was branded as ‘UP Ke Ladke’.

The Congress had contested the assembly election of Uttar Pradesh held in 2017 in alliance with the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2012 to 2017 and his father has been an MP along with chief minister of the state as correctly. Similarly, Rahul Gandhi in the intervening time was MP from Amethi, a seat his family had gained for generations sooner than Smriti Irani defeated him in 2019. His mother can also be an MP from Rae Bareli. His family has on a regular basis claimed to have roots in UP.

This is why in the middle of the 2017 election advertising marketing campaign, Yadav and Rahul Gandhi every referred to themselves as ‘UP Ke Ladke’ (UP boys) like they’d been part of some elite membership. ‘UP Ke Ladke’ means ‘boys from UP’. It is notable that on the time of this advertising marketing campaign, every these boys had been spherical 45 years earlier.

Not solely this, in the middle of the election rallies they went on to indirectly identify Modi and Shah donkeys from Gujarat. Akhilesh Yadav often known as them ‘Gujarat Ke Gadhe’ which suggests donkeys from Gujarat. Giving a befitting reply to this, Narendra Modi acknowledged that he was proud to take inspiration from the donkey that serves its grasp day in and day journey with out prejudice and caring for itself. Modi acknowledged, “The people of the country are the bosses. I work tirelessly for them and will continue to do so.”

This experiment of locals versus non-locals, nonetheless, miserably failed. the alliance could not withstand the excellent surge of the BJP which gained over 300 seats inside the assembly of 403 solely to current Uttar Pradesh a chief minister like Yogi Adityanath.

Conclusion

We have seen how Tamil Nadu and Karnataka focussed on language and cooperative enterprise factors. While Raj Thackeray appropriated Muslims in his so-called Marathi and Hindutva politics by calling them Marathi Muslims, regional political leaders in Bihar cried about outsiders controlling the governance of the state.

Mamata Banerjee appeared additional nervous about outsiders conquering TMC’s core competency – hooliganism. Therefore she complained that BJP is bringing goons from UP and Bihar. The boys from UP could not survive these whom they often known as donkeys from Gujarat. Their circus nonetheless gave UP a strict ringmaster.

Looking on the anti-BJP sort the wrestler’s protest is moving into, it is extraordinarily attainable that native versus non-locals – considerably Jat versus non-Jat – politics could also be carried out by the opposition inside the state of Haryana sooner than the upcoming assembly elections. Jharkhand is presently led by Hemant Soren of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and backed by the Congress celebration which has on a regular basis taken political profit inside the guise of addressing regional aspirations by opposing dominations of outsiders.

Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir are areas that prohibit the scope of trendy arguments of locals versus non-locals to an argument of outsider majority versus domestically concentrated minority – Sikhs in Punjab and Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir. Interestingly, like Jats in Haryana – these so-called minorities are the majority inside the two border states.

For a grand, enormous and totally different nation like India with a civilisational, historic identification, politicians should ideally give consideration to factors that bind the nation as an alternative of pulling it apart, nonetheless, that does not look like a advertising marketing campaign they assume would fetch them votes.