New Delhi: While Union home minister Amit Shah has sought to assuage the concerns among southern states over the impending delimitation exercise, Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah have pushed back and accused the Centre’s claims of being “not credible” while its ally in the Union government, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has accused the opposition parties of “fear mongering”.
Speaking to The Wire, TDP national spokesperson Jyothsna Tirunagari said that before any delimitation exercise, a population census has to be conducted.
“Now the point is, some parties, particularly the opposition parties are trying to do fear mongering. The concern was raised by Stalin that southern states would be at a loss, in a harsh way. For any new thing to come up there should be some SOPs set. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the most successful states in terms of population control. No government in the Centre, today it is ours, but no government would want to lose these states. Definitely nothing would be in a negative way for us southern states,” she said.
Tirunagari added that the TDP had raised concerns during the deliberations of the Wakf Amendment Bill in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) and if there are any concerns relating to delimitation, the party will take that up too.
“If concerns are raised we will take it into consideration but we have to wait for it,” she said.
Also read: Stalin Pushes Back Against Hindi Imposition, Says it Has ‘Swallowed’ Many Indian Languages
In a statement on Friday (February 28), Stalin said that while Shah had claimed that seats in southern states will not be reduced, the home minister was unwilling to assure that the representation of other states will not “disproportionately increase”.
“While they claim that they will not reduce Tamil Nadu’s parliamentary seats, they are unwilling to assure that the representation of other states will not be disproportionately increased,” he said.
He added: “Our demand is clear – do not determine parliamentary constituencies based on population alone. Do not penalise the southern states that took responsible measures to control population growth. If such an injustice is enforced, Tamil Nadu and the DMK [Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam] will never accept it. We must make a pledge that we will not compromise on Tamil Nadu’s welfare and future for anyone or anything. We must stand together and fight for our state’s rights.”
On Wednesday, Shah pointed out that the Narendra Modi government has made it clear in the Lok Sabha that the delimitation exercise will not result in any reduction of seats for southern states.
“Today they are going to conduct a meeting that through delimitation we will not let the South face any injustice. Stalin, Modi government has made it clear in the Lok Sabha that after delimitation on a pro-rata basis, not a single seat in any southern state will be reduced,” Shah said, while addressing a rally in Coimbatore, on the back foot after Stalin called for a state all-party meeting on delimitation.
However, there is a fear in these states that the increasing population in northern states will likely result in a relative increase in their parliamentary seats compared to southern states, which have successfully implemented population control measures over the decades, resulting in shrinking populations.
On Thursday, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah said that Shah’s statement was not “credible” and that it was “tainted with malicious intent to create confusion” in southern states.
“The Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement that he will not allow injustice to be done to the southern states during the delimitation of constituencies is not credible. It is tainted with malicious intent to create confusion in the southern states. Looking at the Union home minister’s sweeping statement, it can be understood that he either lacks information or has a malicious intention to do injustice to Karnataka and the southern states of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh,” he wrote in a series of posts on X.
“If the Central government has a good intention not to do injustice to the southern states, will the redistribution of seats be done on the basis of population ratio or will it be done in proportion to the current number of Lok Sabha members? The home minister will have to answer the main question,” he added.
In 1976, based on the 1971 census figures, a freeze on delimitation was imposed to protect states, which had reduced their population growth rates through family planning, from losing seats to states with higher population growth. In 2001, the freeze was extended to 2026.
Siddaramaiah said if delimitation is done on the basis of population, then it will be the southern states that will suffer due to the population control measures adopted by them.
“Therefore, if the redistribution of seats is done based on the population ratio obtained from the latest census, the number of Lok Sabha seats in the southern states, including Karnataka, which have population control, will either decrease. Otherwise, the number of seats in the northern states will not increase. Doesn’t home minister Amit Shah know that the southern states will suffer the most from both these developments?” he asked.
The impending delimitation exercise has also sparked concerns as a state’s population significantly influences the allocation of central funds, directly impacting its financial health – a concern that has already been a point of contention between southern states and the Union government.
“Several studies have been conducted on the effects of delimitation. According to them, if delimitation is done based only on the latest census (2021 or 2031), there is a probability that the number of Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka will decrease from 28 to 26. Similarly, the number of Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh will decrease from 42 to 34, in Kerala from 20 to 12, and in Tamil Nadu from 39 to 31,” Siddaramaiah said in his statement.
“At the same time, the number of Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will increase from 80 to 91, in Bihar from 40 to 50, and in Madhya Pradesh from 29 to 33. Can this be called justice without calling it injustice? This injustice cannot be tolerated. If the redistricting does not cause injustice to the southern states, including Karnataka, then either the 1971 census should be used as the basis. Otherwise, the population criterion should be abandoned and the current number of Lok Sabha constituencies should be increased proportionally,” he added.
Also read: On the Back Foot After Stalin Call for Meet on Delimitation, Shah Says It Won’t Hurt South India
Former Telangana minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao has also supported Stalin and said that southern states cannot be penalised for “religiously implementing family planning when the nation needed it the most.”
“To execute delimitation without considering the efforts of the southern states is not in the spirit of democracy or federalism. If the center is keen on implementing delimitation- I propose delimitation basing on the fiscal contributions to the Nation,” he said.
While Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, earlier like Stalin, raised concerns of an aging population and even called for people to have more children as fertility rates in southern India remain below the national average, the TDP said that Naidu’s statement should not be seen politically.
“It was not in a political context. There is a lot of economic burden on the state because of elderly population and the proportion of the younger population has come down which has affected the financial strength of the state. When it was required for the country we used population control measures, now when the need has come again we may have to increase again-that is what he said,” Tirunagari told The Wire.
“There is nothing political in that. We stand for the state and people of the state so tomorrow if we see some issue anywhere we will raise concern and we believe action will be taken by the central government of which we are a part of,” she added.
