Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], March 22: As the first Joint Committee meeting on delimitation led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin began, the state’s BJP President, K Annamalai, led a black flag protest outside the meeting venue. The protest was in response to Stalin’s stance on the delimitation issue and the political moves of neighboring states, particularly Karnataka and Kerala, on key water disputes.
Annamalai voiced his displeasure over Stalin’s decision to invite Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for discussions on the delimitation issue, calling it “an artificial issue” while accusing the Tamil Nadu CM of ignoring more pressing state issues such as the Mekkadatu dam in Karnataka and the Mullaperiyar dam with Kerala. He pointed out that Stalin had never visited Kerala to address these issues directly, even though they were of critical importance to Tamil Nadu.
“The TN CM has never gone to Kerala to speak with them and solve the issues, but today, he has invited the Kerala CM to talk about an artificial issue which he has created,” Annamalai remarked. He also criticized Stalin for prioritizing political moves over resolving Tamil Nadu’s actual concerns.
Annamalai further criticized Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, claiming that his political moves were influencing the situation in Tamil Nadu. He accused Shivakumar of trying to project himself as a “Pan-India leader” and said that his actions were weakening the regional interests of Tamil Nadu.
Additionally, Annamalai called out the DMK government for what he described as creating confusion over the delimitation issue. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah had already clarified that the delimitation would not be solely based on population but would follow a pro-rata basis, dismissing the DMK’s stance as a manufactured issue.
Earlier, during the Joint Action Committee meeting in Chennai, Chief Minister Stalin expressed strong opposition to the population-based delimitation. He argued that such a move would disproportionately affect states like Tamil Nadu, which have successfully worked towards controlling their population. Stalin warned that reduced representation in Parliament could diminish the state’s political power, affecting key areas such as women’s empowerment, students’ opportunities, and farmers’ support.
“This is not just about numbers, it’s about our rights, our power, and our future,” Stalin said. He emphasized that marginalized communities, particularly Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), would bear the brunt of such changes.
Stalin also proposed the formation of a legal expert committee to challenge the delimitation exercise and reiterated that the opposition was not against the concept of delimitation but was focused on ensuring that the process remained fair and did not undermine the political representation of southern states.
The meeting saw participation from various political leaders, including Karnataka’s Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, and other leaders from Odisha, and the Biju Janata Dal.
Stalin concluded the meeting by urging for unity in protesting against the delimitation exercise, stressing that the southern states must collectively ensure their political strength was not compromised.