In addition to the ongoing linguistic war between North and South Indians, another controversy has been added to widen the rift between the two; the alleged North Indian Migrant Crisis in Tamil Nadu.
The massive outrage started after the journalist of Dainik Bhaskar, Mohammed Tanvir shared a compilation video of alleged attacks on migrant labours from Bihar in Tamil Nadu. As soon as the video went viral on social media, the mainstream media started publishing the news with sensation headlines and the news went instantly viral which triggers public emotion.
Many YouTube channels in Bihar and Jharkhand posted videos about constant attacks targeting Bihari labours and that led to massive eviction of labourers from Bihar working across Tamil Nadu, fearing for their safety. Reacting to this, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, expressed his concern over the safety of Bihari people in Tamil Nadu posted a tweet. Tamil Nadu chief minister replied assuring the safety of migrant workers. After the people started questioning the safety of the migrant workers of eastern states, South Indians intentionally mentioned them as “North Indians.”
In order to deal with the backlash, Tamil Nadu director general of police Sylendra Babu issued a statement saying the videos posted by Dainik Bhaskar journalist Mohammed Tanvir were fake, and Tamil Nadu is an absolutely safe place for migrant workers. Tamil Nadu police have registered a case against the BJP state president for Annamalai for allegedly spreading misinformation.
In addition to that DMK government which in reality is very much part of this campaign against North Indians, started acting as a "Good government" which provides a safe haven to the migrant workers. They also tried to prove that there was no attack on Bihar migrant labours. Going one step further DMK eco-system also shifted the entire blame on BJP for the fiasco.
It should be remided that earlier, DMK Organizational Secretary RS Bharathi sparked a controversy by saying that North Indians sell panipuri in Tamil Nadu and the Governor is also like them. He also compared the Governor to a migrant worker from Bihar and said that he would not have left without being beaten had Jayalalithaa been alive. The Tamil Nadu Revenue Minister expressed hatred towards North Indian traders and advised Tamil traders to “wean away north Indian traders” from the state. He alleged that traders in north Indian states are tax fraudste
Coming back to current situation, it should be highlighted that the attack on North Indians is not a lone one. The attack on North Indians is not a recent phenomenon. The issue has been simmering for the last couple of years. However, the anti-North Indian campaign became more aggressive since the DMK came to power in 2021. There is one particular issue that happened in December 2022 is the reason why the current issue got escalated.
How DMK and organisations have started bowing the seed of hatred against the north Indian in the mind of south Indian's
On 27th December 2022, a passenger train which left for Tinsukia in Assam from Bengaluru was stopped near Chennai after unreserved passengers refused to vacate the seats of reserved passengers. After the train was halted, railway protection force personnel, forcefully deboarded unreservedpassengers and ticketless passengers and following this action, the train left towards its destination.
Taking the incident, some mischievous Tamil mainstream media to propaganda against North Indians, publishing news with headlines, North Indian Atrocities in Train, North Indians Refused Seats in Train for Tamil’s!, North Indians are Occupying Tamil Nadu! They didn't stop there but continued to publish the news for consecutive days.
As if this wasn't enough, some anti-Hindu You Tube channels have also started propagating propaganda against North Indians. YouTube political channels owned by anti-Hindu elements, parody channels and YouTube channels owned by Muslim organizations posted abusive and derogatory videos against the North Indians. Muslim YouTube channels took this opportunity and posted videos targeting North Indians.
Apart from these, organizations like Tamizh Desiya Periyakkam, Naam Tamizhar Party, and Tamizhaga Makkal Jananayaga Party have been adding fuel to this anti-North Indian campaign from time to time. As per the ground reports, Tamizh Desiya Periyakkam has been frequently organizing a protest against jobs given to North Indians in Tamil Nadu and has been demanding the state government to issue an inner-line permit for other state people who enter Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, Tamizhaga Makkal Jananayaka Katchi a fringe Muslim political party has been actively campaigning targeting the North Indians, particularly the Marwari business community.
Looking at the scenario, it has been clear that the DMK government is using the oppresive British policy of 'Divide and Rule' to create divide between north and south Indians. If all of this was not enough, DMK have initiated a movement to separate Tamil Nadu from India to save their vote bank ahead of the upcoming election.
The current situation in Tamil Nadu has become quite explosive, and if it is not reined in, the consequences will be catastrophic.