Delimitation ‘Damocles sword’ hanging over South Indian states: M K Stalin

While welcoming the Women’s Reservation Bill, DMK President M K Stalin on Wednesday stressed the need to defeat the “political conspiracy” to reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats from South India through the delimitation exercise, which is likely to be taken up after 2026 based on the new population census.

Stalin termed the delimitation exercise as a “Damocles sword” hanging over the heads of South Indian states due to the fear that it will reduce their political representation and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hand out an assurance that they will not be “harmed” in the name of delimitation.

In a statement, Stalin pointed out that India has not yet conducted the once-in-a-decade population census and termed as “strange” the way the Women’s Reservation Bill – which will come into force in 2029 following the delimitation exercise which will be based on the population census whose date has not been announced yet – was being passed in Parliament.

He alleged that the BJP, which was not bothered about introducing the Bill in Parliament thus far, has woken up suddenly in the ninth year of its tenure due to the “defeat” staring it in the face in 2024. The BJP didn’t show the same rigour vis-à-vis the Women’s Reservation Bill that it displayed while passing three Farm Bills, abrogating Article 370, and the bill to provide reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the past.

“Delimitation is a Damocles sword hanging over the head of Tamil Nadu and South India. We will have to defeat the political conspiracy of increasing the number of MPs based on population and reducing the political representation of South India. The attempt to render injustice to a politically aware Tamil Nadu should be nipped in the bud,” Stalin said.

Political parties in five south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana feel delimitation based on population will reduce their political representation. They also feel that they are being “penalised” for effectively controlling population in the past few decades.

“While welcoming the Women’s Reservation Bill, I request Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give an assurance to the people of South India that they will not be harmed in the name of delimitation. He should also allay the apprehensions of the people of the region,” Stalin added.

The Chief Minister also asked the Union Government not to brush aside the demands for a quota within the Women’s Reservation Bill for women from OBC and MBC communities and consider the same. In the statement, Stalin spoke in detail about the initiatives taken by the DMK during its rule in the past five decades for empowerment of women.

Equal rights for women in family properties, 40 per cent reservation for women in government jobs, 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies, free bus travel, and Rs 1,000 monthly assistance are some of the pioneering initiatives of the DMK government, Stalin said.

He also recalled the journey of the Women’s Reservation Bill by noting that it was first mooted by the United Front (UF) government in 1996 in which the DMK was also a part. “The Bill was again introduced and passed in Rajya Sabha when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister,” he added.