‘Not worried about money, worried about hegemony’: KTR on delimitation at Stalin’s meet

“From forcible imposition of Hindi to projects like bullet train being confined to the northern part of India, Union government’s initiatives are clearly discriminating the southern states. To make matters worse, the BJP-led union government is now attempting delimitation on the basis of population, adding insult to injury,” KTR said. Political representation in Lok Sabha is a deeply emotive issue, he said.

If delimitation is not approached with caution, it could affect India’s federal balance, KTR said. Not only did KTR oppose population-based delimitation, but he also opposed pro-rata-based delimitation. “Why do we not trust the words of the Union home minister when he says it will be pro-rata and nobody will lose representation? When the new state of Telangana was formed in 2014, we were promised in the reorganisation act that delimitation exercise will be taken up in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in Assembly seats. But no action has been initiated because it is inconvenient for the BJP to increase the seats. But when it is convenient for them to increase the seats in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam, they have gone ahead and done it,” he said. “We do not trust the Union government because it has indulged in denying us our share in devolution of taxes.”

The southern states are being penalised instead of being incentivised for their achievements. “While any good central government will incentivise high-performing states, we have a central dispensation which favours laggards and penalises achievers. South Indian states have been pioneers in administration, education, economic production. Yet, we are penalised with reduced political power. This is not just an imbalance but a political and fiscal centralisation which is looming large,” he said.

He added, “History will not forgive us if we do not speak up against this. This is the time that we have to unite; we have to fight this fundamental inequity… If we allow this to continue, as South Indian leaders, we will be doing a great disservice to our future generations.”

He said that the southern states contribute to 36% of the country’s GDP. “We are not worried about money going to some states. It’s not about money, but we are worried about hegemony. We are against this feeling that one region is superior to the others,” KTR said.