United they stand...: JAC meeting a show of strength by southern states against BJP-led Centre over delimitation

The first Joint Action Committee meeting demanding fair delimitation was the coming together of the southern states and the opposition parties to speak in one voice against the Union government and the BJP. The DMK-led JAC urged the Union government to extend the freeze on parliamentary constituencies for the next 25 years based on the 1971 population census. The first meeting resolved that the MPs would submit a joint representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ongoing Parliament session.

“Given the fact that the legislative intent behind the 42nd, 84th, and 87th Constitutional amendments was to protect/incentivise States which have implemented population control measures effectively and the goal of national population stabilisation has not yet been achieved, the freeze on Parliamentary constituencies based on 1971 Census should be extended by another 25 years,” the resolution passed in the JAC said.

Briefing the media, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said that the states which had effectively implemented the population control programme and whose population share had come down consequently, should not be penalised. She said that the core committee of the JAC comprising the MPs will submit a joint representation along these lines to PM Modi.

Speaking at the meeting, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that the representation of the southern states is limited to just 130 out of the existing 543 seats. He said this is a mere 24 per cent of the total number of seats and “anything less would reduce South to the role of a passive audience in the political theatre of India”. Telangana’s BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao contended that population alone cannot be the criteria for delimitation. He asked why fiscal contribution or development and contribution to the GDP could not be taken as the basis for delimitation.

He said that the JAC is opposed to the tyranny of majority. “The states that have performed exponentially well politically, economically and in other progressive indicators should not be penalised and that this would be a travesty of justice,” KTR said.

Replying to a query from the media on the BJP’s black flag protest in Tamil Nadu against the JAC meeting, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took a dig at the Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai, saying that he is not afraid of the black flags. “I was not afraid when they sent me to the Tihar Jail. I am not afraid of these black flags,” he said, calling Annamalai a “poor man” referring to his tenure as an IPS officer in Karnataka.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the BJP wanted to reduce the Lok Sabha seats of the states where they were losing. “The BJP’s agenda is to increase the seat share in states they were winning in.” Mann, who began speaking in Hindi, later changed to English and said the seats in Punjab will be decreased because the BJP was not winning in the state.

The meeting was a show of strength by the southern states and the opposition against the BJP. It indicated that the southern states, despite the differences on several contentious issues, will come together to raise their voice against the Union government and the BJP.

Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin’s call fight against the Centre began a month ago in Chennai when he called for an all-party meeting in the state. The DMK, which has been facing a huge opposition in the state from the AIADMK and BJP, took up the language issue and delimitation. The meeting of the JAC, projected as a struggle for fair delimitation and to uphold the federal structure of the country, comes as a pivotal moment in Stalin’s political life. His effort to rally the southern states behind him has ensured that the BJP stands isolated, politically, in the south.