Mar 06, 2025 08:56 AM IST
Chief minister of Tamil Nadu has also called for the unity of the southern states over the delimitation challenge by calling it as the sword over south India
The delimitation debate is back with a beat and more likely to dominate the politics of India in the coming years or even travel beyond into next decades. It is significant to note that the chief minister of Tamil Nadu has also called for the unity of the southern states over the delimitation challenge by calling it as the sword over south India. There is a need to focus on the fear of states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Kerala over losing their due representation and the likelihood of states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh gaining more seats resulting in disproportionate accumulation of power and influence in the national governing structure because of the one and only criterion of population status.
The charge that Tamil Nadu is likely to lose eight seats has been refuted by Union home minister Amit Shah who stated that Tamil Nadu’s share of seats will not be reduced after the exercise. But, does it mean that the number of seats for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar based on the same criteria of population will not increase without reducing the numbers for the south. This does not reflect any fairness or justice to the southern states if the numbers are solely to be determined by the pro rata of population as the single and only criteria while they perceive victimisation for successful performance in population control through education of women and the overall human development policies including health and education.
What defines the delimitation debate? It is the politics of increased numbers for the Hindi speaking states based on law as argued by some and the fault line in the mathematical assurance of numbers not being reduced for the southern states to alleviate their fears simply falls short of political imagination required to govern a diverse, plural and multinational state like India.
It is also important to note that the Union home minister’s assurance that the increase or the future delimitation will be based on pro rata basis though no one has expected an equal share. But what this pro rata implies is the distribution of seats based on the population criteria and the issue raised by Tamil Nadu and other southern states are the same. Where the equilibrium and what is the measure of distributional justice for rewarding states that has failed to implement the population control policies and punishing the southern states for their success in controlling the population growth? The Centre and the BJP maintain that this is only a process, not aimed at discriminating or punitive towards any state in the country. But the question from Tamil Nadu and other southern states is that this process is misplaced and the criterion based on pro rata of population status itself denies justice for southern states for successfully implementing the population control schemes and demands review and addition of fresh criterions.
The president of the BJP state unit, who maintains in his usual coarse style, stated that the raising of this issue by chief minister of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin is a diversion tactic from other serious issues like corruption and governance without explaining that why other southern states are also raising this fear or apprehension? A probable and readymade answer for the BJP is that all southern states are ruled by Congress, Communists and the DMK or by the non-BJP parties. Chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah, Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao have all joined the issue by observing that Amit Shah’s assurance to southern states about delimitation is not trustworthy. Though Telugu Desam Party led by the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu is unlikely to remain silent or indifferent to the challenges of delimitation issue facing Andhra Pradesh and other southern states. When the going gets tough delimitation issue is the sword of Damocles which could be wielded by Chandrababu Naidu over the future and survival of the BJP government at the Centre and BJP is not be shy of admitting this bitter truth. This also underlines the fact for Tamil Nadu and other southern states that it is necessary to act because of the plain truth of either now or never to arrest the disproportionate power drift.
Stalin addressed an all party meeting on delimitation issue on Wednesday. It is easy to understand but difficult to defend the decision of the BJP state unit to boycott the meeting without giving itself an opportunity to listen to other parties in the state besides making its position at an occasion like this when all other parties assemble to express their stand. The question before us is who is afraid of the debate? There is a need for someone in the country or at least from the south to remind the centre and the BJP state unit in Tamil Nadu that the current prime minister Narendra Modi has mentioned during a rally in 2023 that the southern states will lose as many as 100 Lok Sabha seats if the delimitation is carried out purely on the basis of population. The Union Home Minister maintains that no injustice will be done to Tamil Nadu or other southern states.
The southern states should collectively fight for justice. This is not a fear mongering exercise unleashed by the DMK or any dangerous game plan to divide the north and south over the delimitation issue as the sympathetic media houses of the BJP wants the public to believe.
(Prof.Ramu Manivannan is a scholar-social activist in areas of education, human rights and sustainable development through an initiative “Multiversity.”)
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