Don't determine parliamentary seats based on population and penalise south: TN CM

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin called upon the Centre not to ‘penalise’ the southern states by determining the parliamentary constituencies based on population alone and warned such an attempt will be resisted. Tamil Nadu and his DMK would never accept if such an injustice was meted out to the state through the parliamentary constituency delimitation exercise, he said. "Our demand is clear - don't determine parliamentary constituencies based on population alone. Do not penalise the southern states that took responsible measures to control population growth," Stalin, who is president of DMK, said in a video message.

If such an ‘injustice’ was enforced, then TamilNadu and the DMK would never accept it, he stressed in his message on the eve of his 72nd birthday. “We must take a pledge that we will never compromise on Tamil Nadu's welfare and future for anyone or anything. We must stand together and fight for our state's rights. Tamil Nadu will resist, and win,” Stalin said in his appeal to party cadres. "Normally, I don't celebrate my birthday grandly or ostentatiously. But my party cadres engage in activities such as distributing welfare assistance to the people, organise public meetings to highlight our government's achievements and propagating our party's ideals," he said. This time on his birthday, he reminded them of two critical challenges confronting the state - "the battle for language, which is our lifeline, and the fight against delimitation, which is our right." He urged the party workers to convey the true essence of battle to the people as the constituency delimitation directly impacted the state's self respect, social justice, and welfare schemes for the people. "You should take this message to the people. Every one of you must rise to defend our state. We are the pioneers in this ideological battle showing the path for the entire country," Stalin stressed. He claimed that voices of solidarity were emerging from Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana and beyond, and noticing this resistance, the Centre insisted on not imposing its will upon the states. "Yet all their actions suggest otherwise," the Chief Minister said. The three-language policy has already resulted in withholding of Tamil Nadu’s rightful funds. Similarly, they claim that they would not reduce Tamil Nadu's parliamentary seats but were unwilling to assure that the representation of other states will not be disproportionately increased, Stalin said.