The Tamil Nadu chief minister also said Modi was moving towards a single party and single leadership by destroying India's federal structure.
Stalin said Modi wants to abolish the State structure or reduce its powers to a municipality
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was moving towards a single party and single leadership by destroying the federal structure of the country.
During the third episode of his “Speaking for India” podcast, the DMK president also accused Modi of killing the autonomy powers of states.
Stalin also said that Modi wanted to abolish the state structure or reduce its powers to that of a municipality.
“PM Modi does not like the words (in the Constitution) ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of states’. He wants to destroy the states or reduce them to the status of municipalities,” Stalin charged.
“When Prime Minister Narendra Modi served as the chief minister of Gujarat, he spoke a lot in favour of the Rights of the state. But when he became prime minister, he did not even like the first line of the Constitution,” Stalin said.
Pointing to the Justice PV Rajamannar Committee constituted by his father and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi on the Right of State Autonomy and the resolution adopted in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Stalin said: “State autonomy is one of the key virtues of the DMK, and only that will protect states from the onslaught of the Union government.”
He also said “The BJP’s action plan is binding the administration of the state to the Governors’ mansions. The state’s rights have been crushed under the BJP regime; the federalism and democracy given by our Constitution are made to shed tears along with the people of the country!”
He continued: “The worst thing they are doing is to interfere with the state’s right to education and playing with the children’s future. Each state has a characteristic — a culture — a unique way of thinking. The National Education Policy (NEP) is set to destroy this!”
He also said: “The worst act of the BJP government at the Centre is interfering with the subject of education in states, and playing with the future of students. Each state has a unique culture, traditions, and ideas, and the NEP of the BJP government seeks to destroy all of this. It will take 10 episodes (of my podcast) to explain the BJP’s attempt to take away the rights of states.”
The chief minister also alleged that the BJP was trying to create a dictatorial government as per the wishes of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and it was not ready to respect States and run a government as per the Constitution.
Stalin, in his podcast, said that Modi, before becoming the prime minister, promised that states would be allowed to function without intervention from New Delhi.
He said, “But he disbanded the Planning Commission which gave chief ministers a platform to voice their opinion and created Niti Aayog, which doesn’t really serve any purpose.”
Pointing out the delay in releasing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) funds to states, Stalin said, “Due to the GST, the financial situation of the states is in the ICU!”
He added: “Due to the decrease in the allocation of funds in the 12th Finance Commission, Tamil Nadu has suffered a loss of around ₹85,000 crore in the last 19 years, and we are poised to lose more than ₹10,000 crore every year from now on.”
Insisting that all states would flourish if a government that respected federal principles was at the Centre, Stalin accused the BJP-led Union government of being keen on using its Governors against state governments.
“India is a federal nation made up of people with different languages, races, cultures and customs. Our folks have many religious beliefs; and several forms of worship. They also have constitutional rights. Despite these differences, we all live in harmony,” noted Stalin.
“In short, India is like a magnificent garden full of various beautiful flowers! That is the reason the ones who created the administrative framework of the country did it as a Union of States with a federal principle rather than a united nation,” he added.
Stalin also stated that the opposition INDIA bloc needed to come to power at the Centre in order to ensure victory for state autonomy.
“People should be prepared for this. They should treat the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states as mini Lok Sabha polls, and vote accordingly. Hand over India to the INDIA bloc. Let us protect the states and India,” he said.
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