Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief MK Stalin has again weighed in on the row over the decreasing number of parliamentary seats for the southern states after delimitation. This he said, is because the state has implemented the family planning programme. The family “planning campaign” being properly followed, “there is a situation of reducing the number of Parliamentary seats as part of the delimitation exercise,” he said.
The possibility of a reduction in the number of their existing Parliamentary seats has been an issue of massive discontent in southern states.
Chief Minister Stalin had touched upon the subject earlier as well, saying the delimitation may push people to think about raising “16 children” – an allusion to a Tamil saying on 16 kinds of wealth.
He said because the people of the state follow the concept of family planning, “there is a situation of reducing the number of Parliamentary seats as part of the delimitation exercise”.
Tamil Nadu, which has 39 LS seats, has been opposed to any reduction in their numbers following delimitation.
On Sunday, speaking at a wedding of a senior party functionary in his Kolathur constituency, Mr Stalin also urged the newlyweds to give their children proper Tamil names – a concern that apparently touched upon the ongoing language row, which has been dominating headlines following the BJP’s decision to push for a three-language policy with a door-to-door campaign.
The ruling DMK has called it the “imposition” of Hindi and Mr Stalin has accused the centre of “blackmailing” the state by withholding education funds.
The Chief Minister, however, has said the National Education Policy would not be allowed in Tamil Nadu even if the Centre offered funds to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.
His son Udhayanidhi Stalin has said the state is ready for a “language war”.
Tamil Nadu has historically had a ‘two-language’ policy — it teaches Tamil and English, and witnessed massive anti-Hindi agitations in the 1930s and 1960s.
(With agencies)