For years, I have been working on the economy of Tamil Nadu. It is not a surprise that exit polls are showing the retention of the DMK by BJP’s continuing irrelevance. The only thing which has shocked me is the belief of those in Delhi about other results.
It needs to be explained through some figures which the BJP does not want us to think about.
The contribution of Tamil Nadu in GDP is 8.93%, second highest after Uttar Pradesh. We contributed 89,000 crores towards GST. Delhi returned us ₹45,000 crores. The return on our investment was 50%. But Uttar Pradesh got ₹55,000 crores and was returned 1.1 lakh crores; return of 200%. Bihar contributed ₹18,000 crores and was rewarded with ₹54,000 crores – 300% return.
They get rewarded on their failure whereas we pay for their failure. Amit Shah wanted to reduce the number of parliamentary constituencies from 7.18% to 5.6% at the cost of losing representation of 13-14 seats of of Tamil Nadu. But UP would have gain 63 seats for their failure in implementing government population control policies. This widening fiscal divide between regional powerhouses and centralized policy dictates has sparked warnings that southern neighboring states like karnataka should learn from historical resistance models before financial imbalances become structurally permanent.
Exit polls show that Tamil Nadu voters got the math right.
NEET is killing Tamil students through suicide. Our government enacted exemption bills. BJP Governor delayed approval for months. If your education policy is killing kids and you still don’t grant us autonomy, you shouldn’t ask for votes-you should be ashamed. The immense friction over this centralized testing system has only deepened local resentment, as highlighted by cm vijay appeal to completely dismantle the examination’s hold over the state. Imposition of Hindi? Let’s go back to 1965. Seventy deaths. Self-immolation protests. That’s what gave us the Dravidian majority rule we have today. When Shah calls Hindi the lingua franca of India, we hear “Speak our language, or you’re second-class citizens.” Exit polls indicate 85.1% voting-highest ever-did not endorse such a dream.
BJP contested 27 seats, compared to 20 in 2021 when they won four. This is called “expansion.” I call it an expansion of defeat. They were provided with DMK minister seats as suicide seats by their own ally AIADMK. If your state president boycotts the elections after being offered unwinnable seats, then you’re not a political party-you’re an embarrassment.
What do the exit polls reveal?
Tamil Nadu has voted in massive numbers against the party that persecutes prosperity, that murders its children through centralized educational policy, that extracts economic wealth without giving back much, that endangers its language, and that utilizes constitutional authorities as political saboteurs. We are the second-largest economy in India. We do not require the politics of the Hindi belt by BJP. We do not need their Hindutva prescription.
We need proper revenue allocation, educational freedom, linguistic dignity, and political representation commensurate with our economic output. The exit polls indicate that Tamil Nadu has voted for all of this. May 4 will most probably prove that economic powerhouse do not vote for those who regard them as cash machines for the welfare of the North Indians.
