Tamil Nadu MPs got a word of encouragement from Chief Minister MK Stalin as they prepared to launch an offensive on a wide range of issues against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the parliament session which will begin Monday.
The DMK MPs held a meeting today to discuss what they called the BJP-led Centre's betrayal of the state and its people.
"When you go to parliament, you must roar for the rights of Tamil Nadu," Mr Stalin told the MPs of the ruling DMK.
The DMK MPs will bring up the Waqf Board (Amendment) Bill, 'One Nation, One Election', unemployment, and steps allegedly taken by the Centre that were seen as "snatching the rights of Tamil Nadu".
Mr Stalin's party has alleged, for example, not a single mega project has been taken up in the state. They pointed at how the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has not been completed in Madurai.
The DMK MPs said the state's rights have been denied in fund and project allocation. Tamil Nadu had asked for Rs 37,907 crore after floods caused devastation last year. But the Centre gave just Rs 276 crore, they said.
Mr Stalin and his party leaders have alleged consecutive Finance Commissions have betrayed the state with reduced devolution. Between 2014 and 2022, Tamil Nadu paid Rs 6.37 lakh crore, but devolution gave only Rs 4.75 lakh crore. The state government claims that for every rupee of indirect tax, the state gets only 29 paise.
Tamil Nadu is most bitter about the loss owing to the introduction of the goods and services tax (GST), as the state is a hub of manufacturing. The state claims it lost Rs 2,000 crore after the GST compensation was stopped.
On the 'cultural war' front, Mr Stalin alleged that just because the state opposes the National Education Policy (NEP) which "imposes Hindi", funds are denied to the state.
The DMK on Wednesday had also passed six resolutions during a high-level committee meeting, condemning the BJP-led central government over multiple issues including violence in Manipur, "Hindi imposition", youth unemployment, Waqf (Amendment) Bill, and 'One Nation, One Election.'
The first out of the six resolutions appreciated Mr Stalin for "introducing various people welfare schemes" under the Dravidian model of government.
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