Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Chief Ministers and leaders from other States ahead of the Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation, in Chennai on Saturday (March 22, 2025)
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday (March 22, 2025) said the delimitation exercise was not just about the number of Lok Sabha seats, but “our rights, our power, and our future.”
“A decrease in our representation in Parliament would force us to fight for funds due to us,” he said, while speaking at the first Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation held in Chennai. The meeting was attended by Chief Ministers, former Chief Ministers, Leaders of Opposition, and others from seven States.
“Laws will be enacted without our consent. Decisions that will affect our people will be taken by those who do not know us. It will cause a setback to the empowerment of women, students will lose major opportunities, and farmers will languish without support. Our culture, identity, and progress will face danger. Social justice will be affected,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said people belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) would be the most affected, and if the numbers of constituencies were reduced or the State’s representations were allowed to be reduced, “there is a danger of us becoming citizens without political power in our own country.”
The Chief Minister, however, made it clear that he was not opposed to any steps that would strengthen democratic representation. “But those steps should not affect genuine political representation. Our struggle is not against delimitation, but to insist on fair delimitation,” he pointed out.
He suggested that the JAC be renamed as ‘Joint Action Committee for Fair Delimitation’. He also proposed the constitution of a committee of legal and political experts to discuss the matter of fair delimitation.
Mr. Stalin said that the resolution adopted in the meeting alone would not provide a solution or end the struggle for fair delimitation. “It is important to make continuous efforts. On the one hand, we have to put pressure on the Centre and on the other, we have the joint action committee to create awareness among people,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said the meeting would be an important event in protecting the federal nature of India. Chief Ministers of Kerala, Telangana, and Punjab — Pinarayi Vijayan, Revath Reddy, and Bhagwant Mann, respectively — Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Biju Janata Dal presient Naveen Patnaik, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K.T. Rama Rao, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, and DMK MP Kanimozhi, among others, were in attendance.
Published – March 22, 2025 03:19 pm IST
