Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 22 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, while leading the Joint Action Committee meeting, called on all the opposition parties to be united in the protest against the delimitation exercise, which he claimed will weaken the political might of the southern states.
During the first meeting called in Chennai on Saturday, Stalin also proposed to form a legal expert committee on the delimitation issue, while stressing the need for a "fair delimitation".
The meeting was attended by various political leaders, including Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Odisha Congress President Bhakta Charan Das, and Biju Janata Dal leader Sanjay Kumar Das Burma, among others
Urging leaders to take the issue of delimitation to a legal platform, Stalin said, "I appeal to you all to give inputs to take this political thing in a legal way. I propose to form a legal expert committee on this constituency delimitation issue. If we all unitedly protest, only can get us victory."
He added, "Let's unitedly protest and make sure our representation should not get decreased in any situation. Let us all be united and protest till we get fair delimitation."
Stalin expressed strong opposition to the population-based constituency delimitation, alleging that it would disproportionately affect states like Tamil Nadu, which have taken significant steps to control population growth.
"As per constituency delimitation on a population basis, our states will get affected since we have taken action to control population, that's why we are in a situation to oppose it, and we may get decrease our representatives in parliament," Stalin said.
He further explained that the loss of parliamentary representation could lead to a reduction in political strength.
"States here have shown the result of decreasing population. By decreasing the people's representatives in parliament, our strength to express our views will decrease," Stalin said.
"For the last two years Manipur state is burning. Manipur people's voice for seeking justice is rejected because they don't have political strength to attract the nation's attention," he added.
The Tamil Nadu CM further stressed that the issue is not just about numbers but also about rights and power.
"Decreasing representatives in parliament should be seen as decreasing our political strength. This not only on numbers but it's about our rights, power and about our future," he explained.
He pointed out that fewer representatives would affect various sectors, including women's empowerment, students' opportunities, and farmers' support.
"Women will get set back to get power. Students will loose many important opportunities. Farmers will get set back without support. Our culture and growth will face danger," he said.
He also warned that marginalized communities, particularly SC and ST populations, would be disproportionately affected by the reduction in representation. "Social justice which we safe guarded for many years will get affected, particularly SC and ST people will get affected," Stalin noted.
Stalin concluded by reiterating that the opposition was not against the concept of delimitation but was aimed at ensuring that the process remains fair and does not undermine political representation.
"This protest is not against delimitation but to urge for fair Delimitation," he said.
Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin also addressed the meeting, and voiced his concerns regarding the proposed population-based constituency delimitation, highlighting the state's long-standing efforts to manage population growth.
"For decades, states present here have made significant efforts to control and manage the population growth. We introduced policies, raised awareness, and achieved what the nation aimed for - stable population growth," Udhayanidhi
The Deputy CM emphasized that Tamil Nadu reached the population replacement rate much earlier than many other states, but instead of being rewarded, the state "risks losing political representation."
"While some other states continue to experience rapid population growth, we acted responsibly. As a result, we reached the population replacement rate much earlier than many other states," he said.
"But instead of being rewarded for this achievement, we are now at the risk of losing our political representation," he added.