Stalin concerned over the status of 18 powers vested in the State governments

As the country prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Indian Constitution, DMK president M.K. Stalin has said his party will not allow any attempt to tamper with the basic structure of the Constitution.

In a special resolution that was moved during the DMK’s general council meeting on Sunday, Mr. Stalin recalled the submission made by the erstwhile DMK government to the Justice Rajamannar Committee that barring national security, foreign affairs, inter-State transport and currency, powers over all other matters should be vested in the State governments.

He said the DMK was viewing with “great concern” the status of 18 powers vested in the State governments and the proposed “design of the RSS” that all States and districts should be dispensed with and the country should be divided into 200 ‘janpaths’.

“The DMK strongly opposes it and urges the Centre to give up any such plans,” he said.

‘Big brother attitude’

In a resolution, the DMK demanded ‘official language’ status for all 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution and proportional representation for political parties based on the votes polled by them in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

“All the residual powers are with the Centre. It should be changed to pave the way for State governments to enact laws,” Mr. Stalin said.

He demanded adequate powers for the State governments on subjects such as finance, education, subsidies and loans, and an end to the “big brother attitude” of the Centre.

He also condemned the introduction of reservation based on economic criteria, saying it had diluted the reservation policy as laid down by the Constitution.

Another resolution urged the State government to prevail upon the Tamil Nadu Governor to release all seven convicts in former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination case, based on the relevant resolution adopted in the Assembly.

The party also passed a resolution demanding that 90% of the Central government jobs in Tamil Nadu be offered to youth hailing from the State.