00:00News that's coming in at the moment it's the opposition leaders who have started to arrive for the anti-delimitation meeting in the city of Chennai.
00:08Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister hails MK Stalin's fight against delimitation.
00:13D.K. Shivkumar says Stalin is protecting the federal structure of the country.
00:18D.K. Shivkumar hits out at the BJP with regards to the protests that are taking place in many parts of Southern India.
00:25D.K. Shivkumar has said that he welcomes the black flags which are being shown to all the chief ministers and leaders who are coming in the city of Chennai.
00:43These are the visuals that you are seeing.
00:46The chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin, who has now come for the very crucial meeting that will take place throughout the day today.
00:56The chief ministers of many Southern states are now coming in and they are coming in for the fair delimitation.
01:02This is what this meeting is being called.
01:07My colleague Pramod Madhav is now joining me on the story.
01:10Pramod, this is a war that we are seeing which has been brewing for the past many days,
01:15especially with regards to delimitation.
01:17At the forefront has been the chief minister, MK Stalin, and the state of Tamil Nadu.
01:22And now we are seeing he's been able to garner a lot of support,
01:25lot of the top leaders, many deputy chief ministers also taking part in this meeting.
01:33It sure is, Aishwarya. It looks like Tamil Nadu is preparing for the 2026 elections on one side.
01:37The NEP and two-language policy are straight-related matters which GMK has taken its hand.
01:41But this particular issue called as a fair delimitation, the first joint action committee meeting is in a way,
01:46the chief minister, MK Stalin, has brought in leaders from various other parties as well.
01:51We are talking about not just Southern states where he said that earlier,
01:54if delimitation is conducted as per the census or the present census, it will actually reduce the representatives.
02:00What he has done is that he has gone pan-India because we also have the Punjab chief minister over here,
02:06Bhagwan Pan is also there, along with Kerala chief minister, Pindarai Vijayan,
02:10and also Telangana chief minister, Ravindra Reddy, and from Karnataka,
02:13we have deputy chief minister, DK Shivkumar, and various other participants are there.
02:17For now, we have not been informed if TMC is not participating for the day.
02:21We are not exactly sure if a letter would be given in a way or such, but that will be confirmed later.
02:27But chief minister, MK Stalin, has arrived over here with other leaders,
02:30and he claims, even yesterday, he released a video where he stated that it is very essential for this to be taken seriously.
02:37BJP, on one hand, only simply says that delimitation will be implemented as per pro-rata,
02:42but DMK is questioning what is pro-rata.
02:45In fact, after chief minister, MK Stalin, brought this issue,
02:48now various other leaders, including KT Ramaram, are putting forward the same question,
02:51claiming that if delimitation is implemented based on census, it will become a dangerous issue.
02:57There are multiple interesting factors here as well.
02:59In fact, in front of the corporation, Binning Chennai Corporation,
03:02hashtag, fair delimitation, what you see over there, that was placed.
03:06And also, in Marina, they have placed various advertisements for this fact.
03:10And one interesting factor is that, very subtly, they brought in two-language policy
03:13by giving the signboards for the people, the representatives.
03:16It's in English and their mother tongue.
03:19So, very interestingly, DMK is trying to bring in all the agendas into this fair delimitation.
03:24First conference that is going to start pretty soon, Aishwarya.
03:28Right, Pramod, you know, one of the things that the chief minister, MK Stalin,
03:34has been speaking about is the fact that he's come out with a number.
03:37The number that he speaks about, Pramod, is that the number of MPs going to the parliament
03:42will reduce by at least 8.
03:44So, that's the kind of match that Tamil Nadu has done.
03:47And they are saying, it's not just the state of Tamil Nadu,
03:49but the entire southern part of our country.
03:51The MPs coming in from southern India, that number will be reduced.
03:54And that's the reason why we are seeing amongst the southern states,
03:57they are now looking at the entire delimitation exercise,
04:00and they are saying that something is not correct.
04:03They also want the central government to tell them the exact formula
04:06that the government will be following with regards to the delimitation exercise.
04:10Well, we can clearly say one thing now.
04:15The question arises, as per DMK, is that the new parliament is having 888 seats.
04:20And they are asking that if they are not going to increase the number,
04:22what is necessary to have such a seat?
04:24And the second thing is that, as per DMK, they have a formula, just like you mentioned,
04:28that if delimitation is based on caste census, unlike the 1971,
04:32either Tamil Nadu would lose 8 seats or it could get a maximum of 12 seats.
04:37It will not at all be possible, because for Uttar Pradesh, it will be at least three-folds larger,
04:42which means in the parliament, the consecutive, the collective voice of the entire Tamil Nadu,
04:47I mean southern states, will be reduced.
04:49And it means openly, for any law to be passed, if the northern states come together,
04:53that itself is enough. They don't need to listen to whatever any party or the government
04:58from southern states has to say anything.
05:00So this is an issue that has been brought in by DMK, which is now being agreed upon
05:04by Kerala government, the opposition party from Telangana, the Karnataka government,
05:09even Punjab is also here, Odisha has also sent representatives.
05:13So it's turning out to be a pan-India issue in that manner, Aishwarya.
05:19Ramod, if you've spoken with people in the DMK party, if you can tell us,
05:23what exactly is the DMK at the moment thinking?
05:26You know, they have called all these leaders here, the meeting will take place today.
05:30What do you expect will be the outcome of this meeting?
05:33And do you think this is just the first meeting, the first of many meetings
05:36that we will see taking place in different parts of southern India?
05:43Yes, certainly, Aishwarya, because this is called the Fair Deal Limitation,
05:46first joint action committee, and as you see, other leaders are also on their way over here.
05:51Various chief ministers and various other leaders are here.
05:54I believe that could be Pinarayi Vijayan, the Kerala chief minister,
05:57who is staying in a different part, and he is also being brought over here.
06:00The important aspect, just like you mentioned, the DMK itself is calling it
06:03as the first joint committee, and one after the other, they are expecting to expand it
06:09in this program, Aishwarya.
06:11This is very important for DMK, because initially, just like we said,
06:14this is turning out to be a pan-India issue, and interestingly, it is starting from the south,
06:19from Chennai. The chief minister is showing that Chennai is still a very important city,
06:24a part when it comes to Indian politics, and that's what is being emphasized over here,
06:28because imagine, the first joint action committee meeting for Fair Deal Limitation
06:34is happening in Chennai. That too, it is being headed by the chief minister, M.K. Stalin, Aishwarya.
06:39Right, Pramukh?
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