"Prioritize childbirth": Udhayanidhi Stalin's Advice To Newlyweds

Tamil Nadu's concern about delimitation and the loss of seats it might case, has translated into its senior-most leaders asking people to have more children. Days after a request to that effect from Chief Minister MK Stalin, his son and the state's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin made a similar request at a mass wedding. 

After presiding over the mass wedding in Chennai today, Udhayanidhi Stalin asked the newlyweds to have children immediately, "but not too many".

"We will win 200-plus seats in Tamil Nadu in the 2026 elections. I request the couples who are getting married to be concerned about childbirth as soon as possible. Our state implemented birth control first, and due to this, we are now facing issues," he said.

Tamil Nadu, Udhayanidhi Stalin said, might lose upto eight seats in delimitation while northern states that failed to check population would get around 100 seats.

He also urged people to "Keep Tamil names for their children," emphasizing the importance of preserving Tamil identity.

On March 3, at a wedding ceremony of a party member in Nagai district, the Chief Minister said that earlier, people were asked to take time and have a baby. But that luxury is there no more. "The situation has changed and we should say it now. We implemented family planning successfully and we are facing this now," he added. 

With the delimitation exercise due before the 2029 general election, it has become a hot button issue in South India. 

The fear of losing seats and heft in comparison to north India has been all pervasive, so much so that a leader of Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, an ally of the NDA, has also asked the people of Andhra Pradesh to have more children.

Vizianagaram MP Kalisetti Appala Naidu has offered Rs 50,000 each to women giving birth to a third child, declaring that he would personally fund it. He also announced that a cow would also be presented to the woman if she delivered a boy.

Last month, Union minister Amit Shah had addressed the issue, saying it would not reduce the number of seats in southern states even by one. 

"I want to reassure the people of South India that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept your interest in mind and will make sure that not even one seat is reduced. And whatever increase is there, southern states will get a fair share, there is no reason to doubt this," he said, speaking at the inauguration of party offices in Coimbatore, Tiruvannamalai. 

"The Modi government has made it clear in Lok Sabha that after delimitation, on pro rata basis, not a single seat will be reduced in any southern state," he said, accusing Mr Stalin and his son of trying to "distract the public".