‘Immediately have babies’
Striking a sarcastic note over Centre’s delimitation plans, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged newlywed couples to plan families immediately so that the state gets an advantage when the delimitation exercise is held.
Chennai : Striking a sarcastic note over Centre’s delimitation plans, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has urged newlywed couples to plan families immediately so that the state gets an advantage when the delimitation exercise is held.
At the wedding function of a DMK district secretary at Nagapattinam, Stalin said he had earlier asked newlyweds to take their time before they plan a family. “But now with policies such as delimitation that the Union government is planning to implement, we cannot say that. We focused on family planning and succeeded and now we were pushed into a situation such as this. So, I would now urge newlyweds to immediately have babies and give them good Tamil names,” he said.
Stalin has referred to the exercise as a “sword dangling over Tamil Nadu's head” and claimed that states in Southern India “stand to lose representation” in the Lok Sabha if delimitation is implemented based on population census. Accusing the Centre of trying to impose Hindi under the pretext of the National Education Policy (NEP), Stalin has already called an all-party meeting to discuss the delimitation issue on March 5. He has also tacitly appealed to the state BJP to participate in the meeting. “They are trying to implement delimitation that will reduce the number of Lok Sabha seats to Tamil Nadu. I have convened an all-party meeting on March 5 to discuss our stand on delimitation. Forty parties registered with the Election Commission have been invited. A majority of them have said yes, and a few are skipping it. But they should understand that this is not a problem of DMK, it is a problem for the entire state. So, I urge everyone again to stand together for the welfare of this state and its rights,” he said.
On February 25, Stalin said that the successful implementation of family planning policies in Tamil Nadu has pushed the state into a position of disadvantage. “If delimitation is implemented based on population census, Tamil Nadu will lose eight MPs. This will lead to Tamil Nadu losing representation in Parliament," the Chief Minister stated.
