On the other hand, the Great Indian Plain, encompassing the populous Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, remains mired in a reality comparable to sub-Saharan Africa. While the heartland leads in population and fertility, the Peninsula leads on every other metric of modern progress. Following the next Census, if parliamentary seats are redistributed purely by population, the ratio of parliamentary seats in the south to the Hindi heartland seats will fall dramatically. The need for sober dialogueWhat is required now is a sober, intellectual dialogue that moves beyond the reactive rhetoric of regionalism. The divide between the South and the Hindi heartland is real, and the central government’s push for hegemonic control only exacerbates the tension.

Source: The Hindu March 28, 2026 01:38 UTC