In the Parliament’s monsoon session, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. K. Stalin convened a high-level meeting with the party’s Members of Parliament at the party’s headquarters, Anna Arivalayam, in Chennai. The meeting culminated in the adoption of a series of resolutions that underscore the party’s intent to raise critical concerns on federal balance, linguistic rights and fiscal justice in both Houses of Parliament. The meeting passed several resolutions including one on exposing BJP for allegedly deceiving Tamil Nadu for the past 11 years, giving English names to central programs and projects so that everyone can understand it, not accepting the archaeological report of Keeladi.
Cultural Sovereignty and Language Imposition at the Forefront
A central theme of the DMK’s parliamentary strategy involves opposing what it terms as the Union government’s cultural infiltration and linguistic imposition. The party’s MPs will firmly articulate Tamil Nadu’s opposition to the imposition of the three-language policy, particularly the alleged double standards shown by the Centre enforcing the policy in non-BJP-ruled states while relaxing it in BJP-governed Maharashtra due to local resistance. The DMK has also reiterated its demand for central schemes and projects to carry English titles for broader inclusivity and accessibility across linguistic regions.
The Members of Parliament will strongly echo the feelings of the people of the state against the Union government, which has been “deceiving” Tamil Nadu for the last eleven years and “carrying out cultural infiltration” against the Tamils, the party said. “These (issues) will be expressed firmly and unitedly by the party’s MPs in both Houses of the Parliament, as per the guidance of DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin,” the party said.
A meeting of party MPs held at Anna Arivalayam, the party’s state headquarters, resolved to “raise its voice” on numerous issues, including an action plan to clean and restore the Cauvery, Vaigai and Tamirabarani rivers that Stalin had emphasised at the NITI Aayog meeting in Delhi on May 24 and its demand to give English names to the projects of the Centre.
Highlighting Financial Disparities and Revenue Allocation
The party said its MPs will also speak on the Centre’s policy of enforcing the three-language policy and denial of SSA funds to Tamil Nadu, as it declines to implement the three-language formula, and later bowing down to the opposition from the people of Maharashtra for the same policy, since it is a BJP-ruled state. A resolution passed in this regard accuses the Union government of adopting a “stepmotherly attitude” towards Tamil Nadu. The MPs would also voice for the Centre sharing 50 per cent of its tax revenue with the states. A resolution passed in this regard says, “financial injustice” is being done to states by giving only 33.16 per cent share from tax revenue instead of 41 per cent share as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. They will also speak on the financial crisis arising due to the continuous increase in the state share in projects jointly implemented by the state and central governments.
The DMK said its Parliamentarians will also raise requests concerning those issues related to delaying the flow of funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and to curtail financial rights of Tamil Nadu in such a way that it endangers the financial autonomy of the state. Another resolution objected to the centre’s failure to grant statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, whereby crores of people were deprived of their voting rights in Bihar during the revision of the voters’ list. Continuous arrest of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan government was also denounced.
“The meeting decides that the issues of Katchatheevu retrieval, bringing education under the state list, declaring Thirukkural as the national book, imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit, hike in railway fares would be raised in the Parliament on behalf of the DMK by the MPs in the upcoming monsoon session,” it said.
