Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin.
Credit: PTI File photo
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday became the second leader after his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu to favour South India families having “more children” in the light of “threat” posed by the delimitation process that could reduce the region’s political representation.
Stalin’s comments also reflect the disappointment among the political class in South Indian states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana that they are being “penalised” for effectively controlling population while North India states that "failed" in the exercise are being “rewarded” financially and politically.
In his speech after presiding over the wedding of 31 couples organised by the Hindi Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, Stalin spoke about the mindset among people about keeping their families small.
Quoting a saying ‘pathinaarum petru peru vazhvu vaazhga’ (Be blessed with 16 kinds of wealth and live prosperously), Stalin said the number 16 never meant children but riches like cow, land, children, spouse, education, water, vehicle, and fame.
“These days, we don’t wish anyone that they should be blessed with 16 kinds of wealth in life. We only bless people to live happily with a small family. But when we are faced with situations like a reduction in the number of Parliament seats, we are made to think why should we have small families,” Stalin said.
“It (delimitation) has made us think that why shouldn’t we go for 16 children. We shouldn’t forget this. I request the newly-weds to give their children beautiful Tamil names,” Stalin added.
Naidu had on Saturday urged people in South India to have more children by giving up on family planning, which harps on two children, to maintain the demographic dividend beyond 2047.
Stalin has been asking the Union Government not to penalise Southern states for implementing various socio-economic development programmes and welfare schemes for the benefit of the people over the past 50 years. He also moved a resolution in the Assembly on February 14 demanding that the Union Government maintain the “present ratio” of Parliament and Assembly constituencies in states which were fixed based on the 1971 Census by amending the Constitution.
Stalin had also termed delimitation as a “Damocles sword” hanging over the heads of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Telangana due to the fear that the exercise which is likely to take place in 2026 might reduce their political representation.
Tamil Nadu believes redrawing constituencies based on population will “weaken” states like Tamil Nadu and has been nudging the Union Government to postpone such an exercise till all states follow population control measures rigorously.