It was a show of opposition unity on Saturday in Chennai when the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Punjab, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka and the representatives of 23 political parties from eight states came together to oppose the proposed delimitation process. Apart from the passing of the resolution and the media briefings after the meeting, the bi-lingual name boards of the delegates and the southern touch of the gifts stole the show.
The event was organised in a way that ensured a fair representation of the two-language policy that Tamil Nadu and the DMK have been proposing. The name boards of the delegates were in English and their own language. As the meeting began, Kanimozhi informed the political party leaders that instant translations of the speeches could be heard via the headphones placed before them. When Stalin spoke in Tamil his speech was translated into multiple languages or the mother tongues of the attendees present there. Speeches by various leaders were translated instantly to their respective mother tongues and were also distributed in written form.
Resolutions passed in the first Joint Action Committee Meeting on the delimitation of Constituencies pic.twitter.com/edYBC2vKod
— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2025
The other highlight of the meeting was the gift hampers given to the delegates. While Stalin welcomed all the political party leaders with a shawl, he gave specially curated gift hampers prepared by the self-help groups (SHGs) in Tamil Nadu. The gift hamper consisted of eight regional delicacies, with GI tags, like the Kovilpatti kadalai mittai, Pattamadai pai, Thoda shawl, Ooty Varki, Kancheepuram silk sari and local spices.
On the negative side, the media was made to stand outside the seven-star hotel in Chennai when the meeting began and were later let in, 45 minutes before the media briefing. Though accredited journalists were asked to register to attend the media briefing, the arrangements did not ensure wide media coverage. The video clips and the photos were shared by the information department with the media. But a huge iron barricade was placed inside the hall, making the media confined to just one space near the meeting hall.
Except D.K. Shivakumar, Kanimozhi and K.T. Rama Rao no other leader chose to brief the media or hold any interaction. The resolutions and the video clips of the meeting were shared via email and WhatsApp with the media houses.
