Annamalai’s 'Gujarat company' remark about Centre resonates with Keralam’s ruling front and Opposition over north-south disparities - The HinduPublished - August 20, 2026 02:54 pm IST - ThiruvananthapuramK. Annamalai | Photo Credit: PTIFormer Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu State president K. Annamalai’s recent criticism that the Central government has mutated into a “Gujarati company” appears to have resonated with the ruling front and the Opposition in Kerala on Thursday (August 20, 2026).Mr Annamalai, who broke ranks with the BJP in June, caused a stir by alleging that the BJP’s national leadership’s “Gujarat pivot” smacked of systemic apathy towards non-BJP-ruled South Indian States. Mr Annamalai had accused the Centre of abandoning the principles of symmetric federalism by disproportionately channelling mammoth industrial and infrastructure projects, fiscal resources and big-ticket events to Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s home State. Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Central committee member and former Keralam Finance Minister Thomas Isaac told The Hindu that the widening inter-State difference in economic development was “hurting even Modi sympathisers.”“Market forces are not solely responsible for the lopsided development pattern. The Modi dispensation has forced the yawning economic inequality on the federal polity by concentrating infrastructure spending and industrial projects in BJP-ruled States”, Dr Isaac said. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Mullappally Ramachandran and Sandeep Varier, a Congress legislator from Thrikkaripur who quit the BJP in 2025, lauded Mr Annamalai for “belatedly recognising the home truths” about the Modi government. When contacted, Mr Ramachandran said the Congress was not endorsing Mr Annamalai politically, but could not help but agree with him. “Mr Modi has undoubtedly fostered a rapidly-widening inequality between BJP and non-BJP-ruled States and fuelled regional disparities. However, the skewed agglomeration of capital and funds in BJP-ruled States has not benefited the common person. Southern States’ human development index, health indices and literacy rates far outrank those of Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh, where development solely benefits corporates”, Mr Ramachandran added. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Mr Varier argued that BJP’s “discrimination against South India was organisational as well as linguistic.”“Not one South Indian leader has made it into the BJP’s national leadership roster. Moreover, BJP is christening pan-Indian laws and public schemes in Hindi, which is a subtle imposition of Hindi”, he wrote.BJP State general secretary S. Suresh said Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh had emerged as “magnets for international investment” by slashing red-tape and emerging as efficient, business-friendly States, and not because Mr Modi was in power at the Centre.Mr Suresh said BJP-ruled States have benefited by aligning State and Central governments’ development priorities seamlessly, furthering Mr Modi’s “double-engine government” mantra.He said “the Congress-CPI(M) political gambit to broadcast a false north-south divide narrative would not pass muster with South Indians.”Published - August 20, 2026 02:54 pm ISTSign in to unlock member-only benefits!Access 10 free stories every monthSave stories to read laterAccess to comment on every storySign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single clickGet notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products${ ind + 1 } ${ device }Last active - ${ la }