The year 2022 has certainly been newsy for the southern peninsula. Issues like the “ban” on hijab and halal topped the headlines in every newspaper, television station, and website. Be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special attention to Tamil Nadu, Kerala’s Vizhinjam protests, the Mangaluru bomb blast, border wars between Maharashtra and Karnataka, or the role of regional parties like the TRS, JDS, and YSRCP in shaping the future, a lot happened in this part of the country that garnered widespread attention.
While these issues have had a ripple effect politically as well, south India also saw national politics being played in full swing in its regional ground. With Prime Minister Modi and the BJP’s top team focussing on south India as their next target to strengthen the party’s base, the Congress which has been going through turbulent times launched its ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra to test its future before the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Having looked back to 2022, the new year 2023 will be politically packed and could shape the script for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well. The political future of BJP’s Narendra Modi and Congress’s Rahul Gandhi will be put to the test once again.
Will Modi continue to colour more parts of the country with BJP’s saffron as they topple opposition parties and win elections, or will Rahul Gandhi be able to walk the talk, maybe even revive the grand old party? Or will Arvind Kejriwal be able to expand Aam Aadmi Party’s hand and stake claim in bigger states? The year 2023 will be fuelled with political parties, national and regional, looking to strengthen their position for the 2024 parliamentary elections, making it as interesting as the FIFA World Cup finals between Argentina and France!
The BJP is riding on a high after its win in the states of Gujarat, Goa, and Uttar Pradesh while overturning the tables of the Congress in Uttarakhand, as well as Manipur in 2022 to make it a bastion. But the party will not stop there. It would want to bolster its electoral fortunes in 2023 and ensure a thumping victory in the nine states going to polls: Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh.
As the political drama continues, southern cinema steamrolled Bollywood and dominated the big screens with movies like RRR, KGF 2, and Kantara making huge waves. It certainly brought southern India to the centre stage with every person wanting to latch onto the fame bandwagon, even the politicians.
With an eventful year out of the way, here are four big events that south India will be host to in 2023, making it the most preferred destination, politically and otherwise.
Karnataka’s election nataka
Karnataka is all set to see a high-octane election with the BJP government resting itself on shaky grounds even though it is in power. The Congress has been trying to regain its hold and come back to power on its own, as it did in 2013. While the BJP is looking to Gujarat for inspiration, the Congress is looking at Himachal Pradesh for motivation.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said that he is confident about coming back to power. But the question is what “mantra” the BJP would use to deflect the attacks by the opposition when it comes to issues like corruption and nepotism. The Congress, which has its own battles to fight, will have to try and seal the deepening internal rift between two strong leaders, Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. Another big question will be, will the JDS’s outreach programme, the Pancharatna Yatra, a road campaign across the Old Mysuru region, help it win seats?
Telangana elections
Another much-awaited election is the Mungode bypolls, seen as nothing less than a semi-final between the BJP and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi). While the BRS has been in power since the state was formed in 2014, the 2023 elections will now be fought between the ruling party and the BJP which has grown stronger due to its efforts to nurture strong leaders across Telangana’s 33 districts. This will give the BJP another opportunity to strengthen its ground in another southern state.
With Nara Chandrababu Naidu making another concerted effort to revive his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Telangana, there is buzz that the 2023 elections will be all about a new political realignment, maybe a grand alliance between the BJP, TDP, and Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP).
Aero India show
All eyes will be peeled to the skies in Bengaluru as the Aero India, Asia’s biggest airshow will be hosted in February. The 14th edition of Aero India will revert to its original form before the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world and forced the organisers to completely restrict public participation. The 2023 edition of the airshow is expected to break all previous records of registrations with maximum participation to one of the world’s major hybrid aviation shows according to the Bengaluru-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) one of India’s top defence establishments. This time, the airshow will run for a full five days with the first three days reserved for business travellers and the last two days being thrown open for the public to see the gorgeous birds in the Indian skies.
First phase of Vizhinjam is to be commissioned in 2023
The controversial deep-sea water port Vizhinjam’s first phase will be commissioned in September 2023, which will be a major step by the CPI(M)-led Pinarayi Vijayan government. The first vessel is expected at the Vizhinjam port in March 2023 where Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd is developing India’s first mega trans-shipment container terminal. Those involved call it a world-class, futuristic port, the only trans-shipment hub in the Indian subcontinent.
As the year rolls in, one hopes to see the country as the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee put it — India shining!
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment