‘Historic’ for Stalin, ‘delusional drama’ for BJP: CMs’ meet in Tamil Nadu on delimitation

Tamil Nadu’s DMK government is organizing its first conference in Chennai of the states on delimitation on Saturday, with chief minister MK Stalin describing the day as “etched in history“.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin greeted CMs of different states and political leaders to the conference on Saturday morning, stating that they were “united“ in their “commitment to fair delimitation“.
Today will be remembered in history as the day when states that have contributed to the development of our nation joined hands to protect its federal nature by ensuring #FairDelimitation. I extend a warm welcome to all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this gathering, coming together in our determination for #FairDelimitation,” Stalin wrote on X.
On Friday he referred to it as more than a meeting, the start of a movement that will determine the future of the country to attain equitable delimitation.

In the meeting on delimitation, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin stated, “Delimitation of constituencies should not be done as per existing population. We all must stand firm in resisting it.With the reduction in the people’s representatives in Parliament, our power to articulate our perceptions will diminish.”
Who’s joined the meet
Kerala chief ministers, Telangana chief ministers, and Punjab chief ministers: Pinarayi Vijayan, Revanth Reddy, Bhagwant Singh Mann, and working president of Shiromani Akali Dal Balwinder Singh Bhunder, and general secretary of Indian Union Muslim League Kerala PMA Salam, were among the leaders who arrived in Chennai to participate in the meeting.

Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab are the seven states the DMK has approached for the meeting.
“A historic day for Indian federalism,! Stalin said on the eve of the meeting and BJP Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai accused the meeting on delimitation as a “delusional drama.”

‘Delusional drama‘

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which organized a black flag protest, criticized Stalin for not holding such meetings on the Cauvery and Mullaiperiar water-sharing issues with Karnataka and Kerala, respectively. BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan called the meeting “corruption hiding meeting” by the respective leaders.

BJP leader Annamalai went on social media on Friday to attack Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, accusing him of doing his “delusional drama on delimitation.”

“Tomorrow, as TN CM Thiru @mkstalin stages his delusional drama on Delimitation, we hope he will play this speech of DMK Minister Thiru TM Anbarasan to his I.N.D.I. Alliance friends. It‘s like the DMK Ministers have collectively decided to abuse and insult our northern Indian brothers and sisters,” Annamalai tweeted.

Annamalai posted a video clip of an address by state minister Anbarasan, in which he had made an “insulting” reference to the population growth in northern states. The incident underlines the worsening confrontation between the DMK-led Tamil Nadu administration and the BJP-led Centre.

What’s the delimitation issue

The Tamil Nadu state’s ruling DMK has clashed with the BJP on a variety of issues in the past, such as the central government holding back education grants. The mooted delimitation exercise has now emerged as a fresh flashpoint between the two sides.

The Tamil Nadu delimitation issue revolves around the redrawing of the boundaries for the state’s representation in the Lok Sabha based on population figures. Delimitation refers to the process of determining the number of seats and the boundaries of constituencies in legislative bodies.

Earlier, on March 5, CM Stalin had suggested that the 1971 population numbers be used as the reference for delimitation of Lok Sabha seats for the next 30 years, calling upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make this commitment in Parliament. The Joint Action Committee (JAC) intends to keep pursuing this demand, emphasizing that Tamil Nadu‘s present representation percentage of 7.18% per cent in Parliament should not be changed.

During Saturday‘s meet, Stalin claimed that Joint Action Committee is “very essential to create awareness among people“.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah intervened in the controversy in a March 21 address, again asserting that southern states will not lose an “single Parliamentary seat.” Shah criticized Stalin for posting “misinformation” and underlined the significance of togetherness in India, saying, “There have been sufficient divisions in the country in the name of language, and it should not occur any longer.” He also spoke on the language issue, claiming, “Hindi is not competing with any Indian language, it is only a friend of other languages.”