Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who had convened a meeting of leaders of non-BJP parties in the country at Chennai on Saturday cautioned the participants that the proposed delimitation exercise to be carried out by the Centre was with an eye to weaken the States and to undermine democracy.
He was addressing the leaders of 14 political parties drawn from various parts of the country and which included chief ministers of Kerala, Punjab, Telangana and deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar of Karnataka.
The day-long conclave lost much of its sheen as Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister of Bengal and Trinamool Congress supremo stayed off the meeting and the derogatory statements made by TM Anbarasan, Tamil Nadu minister for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) about Hindi speaking people in the country. The North Indians are mere pani puri sellers and pigs.
“Decreasing representations will result in States struggle to get its due funds from the Centre, it will lead to enacting unwanted laws, decisions which will affect our people will be taken by those who don’t understand us, women empowerment will face a setback, students will lose their opportunities, farmers will lose their support, our culture, identity, progress will be hit, social justice will be crippled, SC/ST communities will get affected,” warned Stalin about the possible consequences.
The last week saw an ailing Stalin unleashing through mass media a blitzkrieg about the importance of the conclave titled Fair Delimitation. The day-long meeting also selected a Joint Action Committee to disseminate the impact of the delimitation exercise in its present format. Though the Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured the people of South India during his February 27 visit to Coimbatore that not even one parliamentary seat would be taken away from the States, Stalin did not mention about the same. Stalin said that the Saturday meeting would go down in history as a national movement to safeguard the interest of States. “This is a movement that will shape the future of the country,” said Stalin.
It was decided in the meeting to submit memorandums to the President and Prime Minister asking them to with hold the Delimitation exercise for 25 years.
But the opposition BJP observed Saturday as Black Day and termed it as an attempt to divert the attention of the people from the corruption charges plaguing the DMK Government. “The PM and the Union Home Minister has assured that no States would lose any seat in Lok Sabha due to the delimitation exercise. Still the DMK has held a mega show with ulterior motives,” said K Annamalai, Tamil Nadu BJP state president.
Tamilisai Sounderarajan, former Telangana Governor and a senior BJP leader said that the meeting was a hollow exercise. “Delimitation has not been announced and not a single word has been uttered by the central government. Tamil Nadu chief minister who should have resolved the Kaveri water issue and Mullaperiyar Dam stand-off in consultation with his Karnataka and Kerala counterparts want to hoodwink the public through this exercise of no value,” said Sounderrajan.
