Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan said the BJP, which rules the Centre, was insisting on implementing delimitation because the number of seats in the northern states where it has considerable hold will increase exponentially in the wake of the population-based exercise. CM Vijayan was speaking at the Opposition leaders' meeting on delimitation hosted by Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president M K Stalin in Chennai Saturday. Vijayan said, “The delimitation process, if it is undertaken after the Census, will lead to a large increase in the number of seats of northern states while there will be a significant reduction in the representation of the southern states in Parliament. This will suit the BJP as they hold greater influence in the north. If delimitation is carried out purely on the basis of population, then Kerala and other southern states will suffer as we have been bringing down our population since 1973 when the previous delimitation was carried out, in which the number of seats in the Lok Sabha was reorganised”. The southern states implemented the National Population Policy of 1976 effectively, Vijayan said. “The Union government is now punishing us for having achieved the target and going beyond it. The approach seems to be, ‘now you have a smaller population, so now you deserve lesser funds and lesser representation’. This is deplorable,” he said. If the Narendra Modi government plans on delimitation at any cost, it should not be on the basis of population, Vijayan added, saying the southern states should ensure that they retain their “proportional share of seats in the Parliament”. “The Union government's arguments that our states will get additional seats on a pro-rata basis cannot be taken at face value. The Union has not been able to clarify whether this pro-rata distribution will be based on the current strength of parliamentary seats or on the basis of population figures”. Delimitation should not be a way to penalise southern states which implemented the population control measures, he said. The CPI(M) veteran alleged that the southern states were already being “penalised” by reduced share in taxes “which are constitutionally due to us” by the Centre. “Kerala’s share, which was 3.875% during the 10th Finance Commission, has now dwindled to a paltry 1.925% in the 15th Finance Commission. Effective implementation of population control measures invariably leads to rise in the public health spending. However, while devolving funds, no special consideration is given for the same,” he said. If the southern states' parliamentary representation is further reduced and their share in taxes continue to decline, “we will face an unprecedented situation in which both our rightful share of funds and our political voice to demand them, diminish simultaneously”, Vijayan said, adding that is why states including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab are “uniting in protest”. In a show of unity, a slew of leaders from six states, including the CMs of Kerala, Telangana and Punjab – Vijayan, A Revanth Reddy, and Bhagwant Mann, respectively – along with Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, and senior leaders of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) attended the meeting convened by CM Stalin.
