Amid concerns over the Delimitation Bill, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday, April 17, said that the Bill will not affect any state. He claimed that CM Stalin was protesting against it over fears of poll defeat.
“Stalin is scared of poll defeat and is unable to answer the issues raised by me. Hence, he is saying delimitation is bad for Tamil Nadu. When Union Minister Amit Shah visited Tamil Nadu, he assured the people that the State will not be affected. The NDA will implement delimitation better than what Stalin expects. The Union is clear that no state will be affected by the delimitation. It will implement what it has promised. Everyone will be happy except Stalin,” he said while speaking at a roadshow in Coimbatore city.
Edappadi was campaigning in Coimbatore for AIADMK’s Amman K Arujunan, KP Jayaram, and BJP’s Vanathi Srinivasan.
He alleged that the DMK chief was playing a double game. “He knows the Delimitation Bill will be implemented. And when the announcement is made, including what he wants, Stalin will say it is because of his black flag protest. The Union has promised 33% reservation for women. However, the DMK is trying to stop it as it will bring a good name to the Union, if implemented,” he said, according to The Hindu. A day earlier, Stalin organised a black-flag protest. Dressed in black he burnt copies of the bill expressing his dissent. Invoking the anti-Hindi agitations of the 1950s and 1960s, Stalin had warned the BJP that similar protests would happen in Tamil Nadu if delimitation adversely impacts the state.
However, Palaniswami said that the DMK’s ‘black flag’ protest was a “damp squib”. He alleged that Stalin’s intent was to stall the 33% reservation for women in Parliament. The women’s reservation is linked with the delimitation bill. Stalin had previously said that the government is using the women’s reservation as a “weapon” to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population. He had demanded the immediate implementation of women’s reservation without initiating the delimitation exercise.
Meanwhile, speaking in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised that the delimitation process will not discriminate against any state. “With a lot of responsibility, I want to tell this from this holy place: Whether it is the south or north or west or east, or a big or a small state. This decision-making process will not discriminate against any state. It won't commit injustice against anyone,” he had said.