While not agreeing to the parent comment, it comes from the domestic politics now playing out in that state. After India got independent in the 40s, communists were the main opposition political party in the country for decades. Now, their presence in power is mostly confined to just this small state. While the center and most states are ruled by a hindu nationalist party. This has led to the politics in kerala moving to a sort of secessionary path. A political alliance of the communist-christian-muslim groups against hindu groups and rest of india.

Kerala generally hates divisive and communal politics. Consequently, the alliance currently in power at the national level never makes any significant gains here. Unfortunately, the response to that can get very contrary to federalism and other constitutional values. They went so far as to promote a propaganda movie against the state and one community in particular. Maligning Kerala, even through official channels is frankly a very common thing in India (only from people who support a certain extreme political ideology). The accusations of secession are all part of that campaign.

PS: I'm not very comfortable discussing such a divisive political matter in this forum. However, I'm leaving this here since I see some biased opinions being raised without a counter.

Kerala is "diseased" in its current form of governance, it needs to get help and get better . It is a great disservice to the state and the country to hide the malady and paint an opposite picture just to set up narrative - " that look this state is doing good in spite of rejecting and revolting against the Central govt policies " . This is what propaganda sounds like - for context the narrative that is pushed in Indian context is " poor North draining affluent South resources " - this is not based on facts - where does that lead the country to ? The ruling party of the state of Tamil Nadu is openly pushing racist and xenophobic narrative to the populace .

"... North Indians are dirty and breed like pigs . " is an actual statment made by a sitting state minister . This kind of stuff is still unthinkable in West despite all the bitter politics we are seeing there currently.

There is non-stop propaganda , their ideologues are pushing ideas like India is not a single congruous country it is merely a "collective" or "Union" ( the term they are pushing more and more ) of nations currently in a marriage of convenience. They are allergic to the symbols of our nationhood - the flag , the national anthem and they specifically hate the glue elements of the different cultures in India - "Hinduism" is the cultural substrate and continuum that binds the length and breadth of this subcontinent and these ideologues are rabidly against it .

With each passing day and each article with subliminal propaganda like these they are reinforcing and increasingly saying the quiet part aloud .

They are even promoting discredited historical theories like Aryan Invasion theories and ground their claims of 2 nation/race theory to antiquity ( > 5000 yrs) . The follow the "Motte and Bailey" structure -- Motte being "Social Justice" -- they justify their hate claiming caste atrocity of the last 5000 yrs , but they can easily re-target the raw hate to North Indians and Outsiders at will. They are rushing to appropriate the Indus Valley Civilization as the origin of their race .

They even had a ridiculous commemoration of a statue of the British head of the Archeological Survey of India during the Colonial period in whose tenure the discovery of IVC took place , bypassing all the Indian scholars that worked on the ground and did the actual discovery and analysis - that surely sounds odd for a country with a bitter Colonial history like India ? to give undue credit to the erstwhile masters even when the British didnt claim that individual to be discoverer . The reason is more sinister -- The Indian Scholar - RD Bannerji was a northener and doesnt suit the hateful ideology of this govt .

The biggest tragedy is Indian ruling class and elites are blissfully short-sighted or simply are not gifted enough to fight this ideology that is tearing India apart - India will just disintegrate into warring third world states kept into dirt by the ruling families . India will just produce bodies for the First world , for the low end work and for all sorts of experimentation - a guinea pig farm . A big , dirty slum - a guinea pig farm that's the fate that awaits that await 1.5 B humans - controlled by Compradors from their mansions in West .

Low ambition and self esteem did the people in .

Ofcourse the cleverer ones realize this fate and what's their strategy of survival ? to live off the crumbs from the high table of the Compradors and their master . These clever people are ever anxious to display their loyalty to the Comparadors, they are the middle management of the Comparadors today . The writer of these article - flaunting fancy degrees is one such and the foreign publication is nothing but a step towards their ultimate goal and India's final fate.

To the outsider s - this is a stark reality that you should be aware of , nothing is as simple as it looks like - so before forming an opinion or cheerleading scratch the surface a little .

A propaganda and ideology driven society looks rosy from outside . Many people would have cheered and believed 1930s Germany or the USSR .

In many ways , West is also going through same political cycle but i have more hope for West being able to extricate itself than i have for India . The education , awareness and most importantly a millenia of occupation has bred a different docile mindset in Indian people . This crisis is very unlikely to precipitate leaders in India that can take a hard stand , its more likely for that to happen in West .