The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, recently chaired the Joint Action Committee for fair delimitation attended by leaders of diverse political stripes. In attendance were the Congress’s A. Revanth Reddy from Telangana and D.K. Shivakumar from Karnataka, Pinarayi Vijayan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Kerala, Bhagwant Mann of the Aam Aadmi Party from Punjab as well as key figures from six states. Among these was Naveen Patnaik of the Biju Janata Dal from Odisha, traditionally a fence-sitter on most issues of national importance. The Trinamool Congress was invited but did not join the proceedings; it apparently has its hands full with the controversy surrounding duplicate EPIC numbers in poll-bound Bengal. The invitation to N. Chandrababu Naidu notwithstanding, the Telugu Desam Party from Andhra Pradesh, which props up Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre, expectedly stayed away. Mr Stalin, who convened this meeting, had not invited parties of the Opposition INDIA bloc from the northern belt. This was possibly because some of them have remained non-committal; the Rashtriya Janata Dal has, in fact, voiced its support for the endeavour. Only the Samajwadi Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have sided with the people of Tamil Nadu. The southern tilt in the anti-delimitation roster is not surprising. The southern states stand to lose the most if a delimitation exercise is carried out on the basis of population alone: Gujarat, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan would have 367 seats, constituting 47% of parliamentary representation, while the five southern states would have a mere 164 seats. Little wonder then that the southern states are keen to project delimitation as an existential crisis.
A moral dilemma and the speculation of the realignment of political lines enliven the delimitation debate. Should the southern states be made to suffer in terms of political representation — ironically — on account of achieving success in population control? Reduced representation could erode their say on national policy and government formation. The southern states, speaking in one voice, have underlined this immorality as well as their concern with the erosion of federalism.
The potential political fallouts could be equally engrossing. The Congress, in power in Telangana and Karnataka and hoping to make a comeback in Kerala, would like to benefit from this fledgling solidarity. But for that to happen, it must desist from playing the proverbial Big Brother. The Bharatiya Janata Party has perhaps greater reason to worry. Despite its success in Karnataka, the South remains the BJP’s final frontier. Running into a southern wall of resistance could further erode its presence from the region. The delimitation controversy demands the BJP’s minders to trade aggression for supple manoeuvring. It remains to be seen whether the party, which revels in muscular interventions, would jettison its traditional style of functioning.