In a sarcastic jab at the Centre’s delimitation plans, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged newlywed couples to plan families immediately so that the state gets an advantage when the delimitation exercise is held.
At the wedding function of a DMK district secretary at Nagapattinam, Mr Stalin said he would earlier ask newlyweds to take their time before they plan a family. “But now with policies such as delimitation that the Union Government is planning to implement, we cannot say that. We focused on family planning and succeeded and were pushed into a situation such as this. So I would now urge newlyweds to immediately have babies and give them good Tamil names,” he said.
The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has been leading the delimitation charge against the government. Delimitation is the process of redrawing boundaries of parliamentary and Assembly constituencies to reflect changes in population over time. DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has contended the delimitation exercise, expected to be conducted after 2026, will put southern states at a disadvantage. These states, he said, had implemented family planning effectively over the years and this population control may work against them when delimitation is conducted based on demographic change. This would give southern states a lesser say in Parliament despite their significant achievement in population control for the country’s welfare and significant contribution to the country’s GDP, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has contended.
Countering Mr Stalin’s remarks, BJP spokesperson CR Keshavan said the DMK had resorted to “desperate and dishonest diversionary drama”. “Does the DMK, which is engaging in desperate and dishonest diversionary drama, have the courage to question Rahul Gandhi and seek an explanation on his call for ‘Jitni Abadi, Utna Haq’, means rights proportionate to the population? This call of Rahul Gandhi is in direct contradiction with what DMK is purportedly claiming,” he said.
Mr Keshavan said DMK was “trying to divert the attention from the gross mismanagement, misrule and misgovernance”.
Accusing the Centre of trying to impose Hindi in the garb of national education policy, Mr Stalin also tacitly appealed to the state BJP to not boycott an all-party meeting called to discuss the delimitation issue. “They are trying to implement delimitation that will reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats to Tamil Nadu. I have convened an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss our stand on delimitation. Forty registered with the Election Commission have been invited. A majority of them have said yes, and a few are skipping it. But they should understand that this is not a problem of DMK, it is a problem for the entire state. So I urge everyone again to stand together for the welfare of this state and its rights,” he said.
