In an effort to demonstrate opposition unity, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin welcomed all of the opposition leaders, including the four chief ministers in attendance, to the first Joint Action Committee (JAC) meeting on delimitation on Saturday morning.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s guarantee that South Indian states would not lose parliamentary seats as a result of the impending delimitation exercise was deemed “ambiguous” by the DMK president in his welcome speech at the conference in Chennai. He further cautioned that in order to keep states from suffering the same fate as Manipur, the struggle for representation is essential.
“Manipur has been burning for two years, and its people’s demands are being ignored because they don’t have the representation to make their voices count,” Stalin said, linking parliamentary strength to a state’s ability to seek justice. Tamil Nadu BJP head Annamalai and other leaders held a black flag protest in Chennai as leaders started to arrive for the meeting. Annamalai criticized Stalin for failing to call comparable meetings on the Cauvery and Mullaiperiar water-sharing disputes with Karnataka and Kerala, respectively, and characterized the JAC conference as “mere drama.”
In a grand display of solidarity, 14 leaders from at least five states in the nation are in attendance, including the chief ministers of Punjab, Telangana, and Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, A Revanth Reddy, and Bhagwant Mann, respectively; Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar; and senior members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
Stalin contended in his speech that population-based reallocation would penalize progressive nations and widen the divide between the North and the South. “At least eight seats will be lost if they proceed with delimitation as planned,” he said, adding that reducing representation is not just about numbers but about the survival of states. Ahead of the meeting, Stalin, in a post on X, wrote: “Today will be etched in history as the day when states that have contributed to our nation’s development came together to safeguard its federal structure by ensuring #FairDelimitation.” “I warmly welcome all Chief Ministers and political leaders to this meeting, united in our commitment to #FairDelimitation,” he added.
Leaders from Kerala, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Odisha, and West Bengal are attending the JAC meeting in Chennai because of worries that the delimitation process, which is set for after 2026, may politically undermine the South Indian states. Stalin explained that the opposition opposed an unjust formula that would disproportionately affect governments that have been successful in controlling population expansion, not delimitation per se.
Stalin claimed that prosperous states shouldn’t be penalized for their achievements, citing Tamil Nadu’s social and economic advancements. “We are not against delimitation, but it must be fair delimitation,” he added. “Every state gathered here has made remarkable progress over the years,” Stalin said. “But if our representation is reduced, it will set back policies for youth, gender equality, and social justice. Our language, culture, and identity will suffer. Without political power, we will become slaves in our own land.”
Stalin questioned the veracity of the assurance regarding Amit Shah’s comments, claiming that the senior BJP leader made the statement outside of Parliament at a public rally. “His statement was politically ambiguous,” Stalin said, seemingly implying that the BJP may still push for population-based seat reallocation that could dilute Tamil Nadu’s parliamentary influence.
Accusing the BJP of consistently weakening state powers, Stalin called on opposition leaders to turn their unity into a national model. “BJP has always been a party that grabs power from the states,” he said. “The decisions we take here must reach the people.” With delimitation shaping up as a major flashpoint, Stalin’s speech clarified that he and his allies are demanding not just verbal assurances but concrete legislative safeguards to prevent South India’s political marginalisation.
Stalin was criticized by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu for not holding comparable meetings on the Cauvery and Mullaiperiar water-sharing conflicts with Karnataka and Kerala, respectively, at a black flag demonstration in response to the meeting, according to the news agency. Tamilisai Soundararajan, a BJP leader, called the gathering a “corruption hiding meeting” and stated that the purpose of the black flag demonstration was to “protect the interests of the people of Tamil Nadu.”
The DMK was using the delimitation crisis “as a divisionary tactic to deflect public attention away from DMK’s corrupt, failed, disastrous misrule,” according to BJP national spokesperson C R Kesavan. “DMK’s divisive politics of fear mongering, attempting to mislead and misinform people will badly boomerang back on the DMK. Rahul Gandhi and Congress, with their mutually conflicting and contradicting stand on delimitation, are indulging in a very pathetic politics of opportunism which is utterly condemnable,” the news agency quoted Kesavan.
