But nowhere have people come to the streets as they did in Tamil Nadu. They burnt Kerala state buses. The ruling DMK cadre blocked roads between Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Travel and transport were allowed only after New Delhi's intervention. In their accusations, both chief ministers behaved like they were from different countries. Achunandan said that Tamil Nadu was acting as if it had forgotten that the dam was in Kerala. Karunanidhi retorted that the Kerala chief minister's remark was "irresponsible and provocative" and could harm the spirit of "national integration."

Strong words do not break bones, but they break the sense of unity. I believe that things came to such a pass that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh deployed, at Tamil Nadu's request, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to protect the dam which irrigated the state's four districts.

Two weeks earlier, I saw a similar drama being enacted in Karnataka. This was on a territorial issue. Maharashtra renewed its claim over Belgaum, a Marathi-speaking district which the state's Reorganisation Commission had given to the Kannada-speaking Karnataka in 1955. Maharashtra has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to prove its case. Karnataka has gone to the extent of convening the assembly session in the dusty town of Belgaum which has no facilities worth the name. This is meant to convey the message that Belgaum is an integral part of the state. New Delhi is on the side of Karnataka, primarily because it does not want to reopen the case of altering state boundaries.

Maharashtra has contended that Govind Ballabh Pant, home minister at that time, had assured the transfer of Belgaum to Maharashtra. This is not true. I know it because I was his press officer. He stated categorically, more than once, that Belgaum was part of Karnataka in view of the States' Reorganisation Commission verdict. The Mehar Chand Commission which Pant appointed to consider Maharashtra's claim held that Belgaum was justifiably integrated with Karnataka. Still, the quarrel between the two states continues to rage as furiously as before.

Whether it is a dispute about water or territory, it becomes a point of anxiety when it boils over to a situation which Kerala and Tamil Nadu have faced. The arrogance of chief ministers makes it all the more disturbing. That such acute differences should surface within 60 years of independence shows that India is yet to settle down as a nation-state. The old provinces, which were the result of an accident, and the circumstances attending the growth of British power have burrowed deep into the people's minds. Even the pluralistic ethos of India has not yet erased the old loyalties.

The economic growth should have made states transcend their boundaries. Natural resources at one place are the grist of industrial units at another. There is inter-dependence. Entrepreneurs move all over the country, strengthening common ties through trade and business. Experts of one state are employed in another. This crisscrossing has apparently not demolished preferences and prejudices. Emotional integration is not keeping pace with the contact between people in the last few decades. In fact, the reorganised states on the basis of language have become islands of linguistic chauvinism and intolerance. Tamil Nadu is an ugly example of that trend. It has decided to introduce Tamil as the state High Court's official language. This will harm the all-India character of the bar and the judiciary. A lawyer of one state appears in another, and the centre has the policy of appointing the High Court Chief Justice from outside. All this will be affected if states begin to have their mother tongues as the language in High Courts.

What is frightening is when a dispute becomes a prestige issue and the nationals of one state jump into the arena to threaten another. Developments in some states are ominous. The States' Reorganisation Commission was itself worried when the members found conflicting claims made before them taking the shape of frenzy. Therefore, they emphasised in their report two basic facts: one, the states, whether organised or not, would continue to be integral parts of the Union, and, two, the constitution of India recognised only one citizenship -- a common citizenship for the entire Indian people, with equal rights and opportunities throughout the country.

The behaviour of Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the one hand, and Maharashtra and Karnataka on the other, has shown that the Commission's points were only a pious hope. The states remain primarily parochial in their attitudes. Probably, the redrawing of boundaries on the basis of language was a mistake. It has only increased the chances of confrontation.

It is apparent that political parties have tried to play with the people's sentiments in the name of mother tongue. Their purpose is selfish: electoral gains. Take the attitude of the BJP. When the nation was worried over the petulance of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the BJP organised rallies in Delhi. It had no concern about the challenge to the nation's coherence.

The party's purpose was to communalise the atmosphere -- something in which it was adept.

Whether Mohammed Afzal, given death sentence for having attacked the Indian parliament, is hanged or not, and when, depends on how the president views his mercy petition. The country is governed by the law, not by the dictates of the BJP. I do not know whether, by raising Afzal's case, the party would garner more votes in its favour in the UP elections in February. But the party is determined to play the religious card. I wish Atal Behari Vajpayee could assert himself, and stop the BJP's programme of dividing the country.

For a change, the Congress has not yielded to the BJP's demand for a stricter law to fight the fissiparous tendencies in the country. Manmohan Singh has ruled out tougher laws. He has rightly said that the problem is not with the laws, but with their inefficient enforcement. What is needed is perspective and balance. How can this be possible when there are deliberate efforts to whip up passions by an appeal to parochial and communal sentiments? A great deal of heat and controversy that states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra generate may be a passing phase.

Nevertheless, it would be unwise not to take note of disruptive trends.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.