On earlier occasions I had expressed admiration for political leaders of Kerala to put aside their personal animosities and present a unified voice on issues of importance to the state.

There was one more such instance of this matured approach: on 13 January Chief Minister Oomen Chandy (Congress) and leader of opposition V S Achuthanandan (CPM) called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and in one voice they sought Centre’s intervention in the Mullaperiyar dam issue as also the problems faced by the rubber farmers due to a steep fall in rubber prices.

I contrast this with the extremely adversarial approach of political leaders of Tamil Nadu. These do not come together on any issue, even those of vital concern to the state. Years after the Supreme Court upheld the contention of the Tamil Nadu government on sharing Cauvery waters, the principal political parties, DMK and AIADMK, would not make a joint effort to make a strong presentation to the Centre to notify the tribunal award and work on a lasting solution.

This was exemplified by the stinging observations of Justice Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court when DMK leader Stalin’s counsel said the case had been filed with a mala fide intention: “you are no different than them. You also do the same thing when you are in power. Only in Tamil Nadu do we have such a bad political culture. It is not so in the  north, " said Justice Kirubakaran.