Opposition leaders from southern states and Punjab have gathered in Chennai for a meeting against the proposed delimitation exercise. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is leading the 'Fair Delimitation' conference, arguing that the exercise could reduce southern states' representation in Parliament. Karnataka Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan are among the attendees.
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00:00News that's coming in at the moment it's the opposition leaders who have started to arrive for the anti-delimitation meeting in the city of Chennai.
00:08Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister hails MK Stalin's fight against delimitation.
00:13D.K. Shivkumar says Stalin is protecting the federal structure of the country.
00:18D.K. Shivkumar hits out at the BJP with regards to the protests that are taking place in many parts of Southern India.
00:25D.K. Shivkumar has said that he welcomes the black flags which are being shown to all the chief ministers and leaders who are coming in the city of Chennai.
00:43These are the visuals that you are seeing.
00:46The chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, who has now come for the very crucial meeting that will take place throughout the day today.
00:56The chief ministers of many Southern states are now coming in and they are coming in for the fair delimitation.
01:02This is what this meeting is being called.
01:07My colleague Pramod Madhav is now joining me on the story.
01:10Pramod, this is a war that we are seeing which has been brewing for the past many days,
01:15especially with regards to delimitation.
01:17At the forefront has been the chief minister, MK Stalin, and the state of Tamil Nadu.
01:22And now we are seeing he's been able to garner a lot of support,
01:25lot of the top leaders, many deputy chief ministers also taking part in this meeting.
01:33It sure is, Aishwarya. It looks like Tamil Nadu is preparing for the 2026 elections on one side.
01:37The NEP and two-language policy are straight-related matters which GMK has taken its hand.
01:41But this particular issue called as a fair delimitation, the first joint action committee meeting is in a way,
01:46the chief minister, MK Stalin, has brought in leaders from various other parties as well.
01:51We are talking about not just Southern states where he said that earlier,
01:54if delimitation is conducted as per the census or the present census, it will actually reduce the representatives.
02:00What he has done is that he has gone pan-India because we also have the Punjab chief minister over here,
02:06Bhagwan Pan is also there, along with Kerala chief minister, Pindarai Vijayan,
02:10and also Telangana chief minister, Ravindra Reddy, and from Karnataka,
02:13we have deputy chief minister, DK Shivkumar, and various other participants are there.
02:17For now, we have not been informed if TMC is not participating for the day.
02:21We are not exactly sure if a letter would be given in a way or such, but that will be confirmed later.
02:27But chief minister, MK Stalin, has arrived over here with other leaders,
02:30and he claims, even yesterday, he released a video where he stated that it is very essential for this to be taken seriously.
02:37BJP, on one hand, only simply says that delimitation will be implemented as per pro-rata,
02:42but DMK is questioning what is pro-rata.
02:45In fact, after chief minister, MK Stalin, brought this issue,
02:48now various other leaders, including KT Ramaram, are putting forward the same question,
02:51claiming that if delimitation is implemented based on census, it will become a dangerous issue.
02:57There are multiple interesting factors here as well.
02:59In fact, in front of the corporation, Binning Chennai Corporation,
03:02hashtag, fair delimitation, what you see over there, that was placed.
03:06And also, in Marina, they have placed various advertisements for this fact.
03:10And one interesting factor is that, very subtly, they brought in two-language policy
03:13by giving the signboards for the people, the representatives.
03:16It's in English and their mother tongue.
03:19So, very interestingly, DMK is trying to bring in all the agendas into this fair delimitation.
03:24First conference that is going to start pretty soon, Aishwarya.
03:28Right, Pramod, you know, one of the things that the chief minister, MK Stalin,
03:34has been speaking about is the fact that he's come out with a number.
03:37The number that he speaks about, Pramod, is that the number of MPs going to the parliament
03:42will reduce by at least 8.
03:44So, that's the kind of match that Tamil Nadu has done.
03:47And they are saying, it's not just the state of Tamil Nadu,
03:49but the entire southern part of our country.
03:51The MPs coming in from southern India, that number will be reduced.
03:54And that's the reason why we are seeing amongst the southern states,
03:57they are now looking at the entire delimitation exercise,
04:00and they are saying that something is not correct.
04:03They also want the central government to tell them the exact formula
04:06that the government will be following with regards to the delimitation exercise.
04:10Well, we can clearly say one thing now.
04:15The question arises, as per DMK, is that the new parliament is having 888 seats.
04:20And they are asking that if they are not going to increase the number,
04:22what is necessary to have such a seat?
04:24And the second thing is that, as per DMK, they have a formula, just like you mentioned,
04:28that if delimitation is based on caste census, unlike the 1971,
04:32either Tamil Nadu would lose 8 seats or it could get a maximum of 12 seats.
04:37It will not at all be possible, because for Uttar Pradesh, it will be at least three-folds larger,
04:42which means in the parliament, the consecutive, the collective voice of the entire Tamil Nadu,
04:47I mean southern states, will be reduced.
04:49And it means openly, for any law to be passed, if the northern states come together,
04:53that itself is enough. They don't need to listen to whatever any party or the government
04:58from southern states has to say anything.
05:00So this is an issue that has been brought in by DMK, which is now being agreed upon
05:04by Kerala government, the opposition party from Telangana, the Karnataka government,
05:09even Punjab is also here, Odisha has also sent representatives.
05:13So it's turning out to be a pan-India issue in that manner, Aishwarya.
05:19Ramod, if you've spoken with people in the DMK party, if you can tell us,
05:23what exactly is the DMK at the moment thinking?
05:26You know, they have called all these leaders here, the meeting will take place today.
05:30What do you expect will be the outcome of this meeting?
05:33And do you think this is just the first meeting, the first of many meetings
05:36that we will see taking place in different parts of southern India?
05:43Yes, certainly, Aishwarya, because this is called the Fair Deal Limitation,
05:46first joint action committee, and as you see, other leaders are also on their way over here.
05:51Various chief ministers and various other leaders are here.
05:54I believe that could be Pinarayi Vijayan, the Kerala chief minister,
05:57who is staying in a different part, and he is also being brought over here.
06:00The important aspect, just like you mentioned, the DMK itself is calling it
06:03as the first joint committee, and one after the other, they are expecting to expand it
06:09in this program, Aishwarya.
06:11This is very important for DMK, because initially, just like we said,
06:14this is turning out to be a pan-India issue, and interestingly, it is starting from the south,
06:19from Chennai. The chief minister is showing that Chennai is still a very important city,
06:24a part when it comes to Indian politics, and that's what is being emphasized over here,
06:28because imagine, the first joint action committee meeting for Fair Deal Limitation
06:34is happening in Chennai. That too, it is being headed by the chief minister, M.K. Stalin, Aishwarya.
06:39Right, Pramukh?