'Delimitation exercise a planned attack on non-BJP ruled states'

The proposed delimitation exercise by the Narendra Modi government is not just about any one state but the future of democracy in India, Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin said in Chennai on Saturday, 22 March.

“It’s not just a numbers game but a planned attack on the non-BJP ruled states to reduce their representation in Parliament,” he said addressing the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on Fair Delimitation convened by chief minister M.K. Stalin. More seats for states with higher birth rates meant that voices from the South would get weak in Parliament, he added.

"If not rewarded, we should at least not be penalised. This move is a direct threat to the federal structure. So, we must act quickly, and we must act together. We must demand an extension of the freeze on Lok Sabha seats based on 1971 census beyond 2026," he said.

The meeting was attended by chief ministers of Telangana, Punjab and Kerala (A. Revanth Reddy, Bhagwant Mann and Pinarayi Vijayan, respectively), Karnataka deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, and senior Bharat Rashtra Samithi leader K.T. Rama Rao, among others.

Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar said, “This fight is not just about numbers… the delimitation exercise is not just about parliamentary seats; it is about the future of federalism in India. If the Centre proceeds with this unjust formula, it will alter the federal balance, giving disproportionate power to states that have failed to control population growth,”

The Tamil Nadu chief minister, Udhayanidhi added, had convened this meeting at a very crucial time when the rights and voices of the non-BJP ruled states were under real threat.

'Sword of Damocles'

In his address Vijayan said the proposed delimitation was a 'Sword of Damocles' hanging over the southern states which had reduced their population. He said the central government has praised the states which implemented the National Population Policy of 1976 time and again, but was now punishing them for the same.

The Centre, he added, was “suddenly going ahead with the delimitation process without any consultation as it was driven by narrow political interests and not by Constitutional principles or democratic imperatives”.

Reiterating that federal democracy was under threat due to the proposed delimitation, which will be done "solely on population", Shivakumar termed it as a political assault on southern states for controlling population growth, improving literacy and empowering women.

"The very pillars of our federal democracy, enshrined by Babasaheb Ambedkar and the visionary framers of our Constitution, are being dismantled brick by brick," Shivakumar said.

He further said, "Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and every progressive state in this room faces a stark choice: submit to domination or rise in resistance. We choose resistance."

Alleging that south India would lose political voice if the NDA government at the Centre carried out delimitation on population basis, Revanth Reddy said political parties and leaders of south must oppose any such move.

Rama Rao accused the NDA government of perpetuating decades of "discrimination against the region" and claimed that the present delimitation policy, based on population, could lead to the centralisation of funds and fiscal control, "jeopardising" the progress of southern states.