CHENNAI: Calling upon those who have a genuine concern for India’s unity to raise their voices for the cause of state autonomy, Chief Minister MK Stalin, on Saturday, urged all states in the country to form committees similar to the high-level committee on union-state relations established by Tamil Nadu to advance their call for state autonomy.
Inaugurating a national seminar on union-state relations in Chennai, the CM said, “Let us strive in all possible ways to amend the Constitution to reflect the idea of ‘autonomy in states and federalism in the union’”. The seminar was addressed by former judges of the Supreme Court and other experts in union-state relations.
Stating that ensuring social justice has been the fundamental principle of Tamil Nadu politics, the CM pointed out that TN is among the states that contribute the largest share of revenue to the centre through direct taxes and GST. “However, in terms of financial devolution, the centre fails to allocate funds commensurate with the revenue collected from the state, acting instead with narrow political intent,” he added.
He recalled how former CM CN Annadurai (Arignar Anna) had declared in the TN assembly that a review of the Constitution was necessary to ensure the states’ rights. Following this, in 1969, former CM M Karunanidhi formed the Rajamannar Committee to review union-state relations.
‘Justice Kurian Joseph panel formed to prevent erosion of rights of state’
In 1974, Karunanidhi urged the then PM Indira Gandhi to take action based on the recommendations of that committee, the CM said. Stalin said presently, states like TN, WB, Karnataka, Kerala, AP, Telangana, Punjab, and Jharkhand are governed by non-BJP parties. “Jammu and Kashmir should have been on this list, but the union government, in violation of constitutional provisions, dismissed the elected government, and during governor’s rule, declared J&K a Union Territory. Such undemocratic and anti-federal actions were strongly opposed by the DMK and its alliance parties,” he added.
To prevent such erosion of state rights and to review 50 years of centralising tendencies, we have now formed a high-level committee under former SC Judge Kurian Joseph to recommend required constitutional amendments, Stalin said. Referring to a statement made by the Sarkaria Commission in 1988, the CM said that commission had said that powers being increasingly centralised led to the centre becoming hypertensive and the states becoming anaemic, and that such centralisation resulted in overall ill-health and inefficiency and worsened people’s problems. But despite such statements, the commission failed to recommend amendments in favour of the states, the CM said.
The CM also recalled the 2007 Punchhi Committee recommendations about appointing governors in consultation with the state governmentthe union government has not accepted that recommendation, and it is evident from the way the present TN governor functions, he alleged.
“The union government has been posing many legal and administrative impediments to the non-BJP governments in many states. The centre also prevents the financial commission from functioning in an independent way, while being desperate to impose Hindi. Many other states started approving TN’s initiatives against Hindi imposition, and recently, Maharashtra CM Fadnavis announced that Hindi is not compulsory in his state. This is a big transformation taking place at the national level,” Stalin said. The CM also launched the official website of the high-level committee on union-state relations.
Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin said state autonomy has been a fundamental demand of the Dravidian movement. Since 2021, the DMK has been insisting on calling the Government of India as union government and not central government, in consonance with the Constitution. “TN government has been subjected to severe financial hardship. The union’s contribution to shared schemes has been steadily reduced, forcing states to bear a disproportionate share,” the Deputy CM said.