Slamming the BJP-led Union government for its persistence with imposing Hindi disregarding Tamil and other languages and washing its hands off Manipur, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday, charged the Centre with usurping the legitimate rights of the states.
The DMK’s High-Level Working Committee, presided over by Chief Minister and party president MK Stalin, accused the Modi Government of having failed in various fronts and presented a litany of charges. Of the six resolutions passed at the meeting, four were directed against the Centre.
The meeting, through a resolution, registered its strong condemnation for the following: “Delay in holding the decennial census along with caste enumeration, reduction in the allocation for MNREGA, 9.2 per cent rise in unemployment, stripping minorities of their rights with the new Waqf Bill, the anti-federal and anti-democratic push for ‘One Nation One Poll’, failure to prevent the recurring train accidents, non-release of funds under the SSA scheme, discrimination if opposition ruled states in the devolution central taxes and diluting reservation by keeping vacant backlog vacancies.”
“In the last ten years, the Union government has not even fulfilled a single poll promise made in 2014. It has not taken any initiative for that, but is bent upon implementing its communal agenda with utter disregard for constitutional ethics and dismantling the country’s plurality,” it read.
On the situation in Manipur, the DMK squarely blamed the BJP, ruling both at the Centre and in the state. “Manipur has been burning for the last 18 months. Stripped of human rights and humanity remaining crushed, the state is facing a catastrophe of historic proportion. Anarchy is at its peak with Infants, children and women are massacred. But the BJP-led Union government is turning a blind eye and is focussed on the assembly election campaign. Not even once, Prime Minister Modi visited the trouble-torn state which is condemnable,” said a resolution.
“Both the BJP-led Union government and the BJP Government in Manipur appear to have washed their hands off Manipur.* How many more lives will we be losing due to the disregard of the two governments,” it asked.
On the devolution of Central taxes, the meeting emphasised that the 16th Finance Commission should hike the states’ share to 50 per cent as sought by the chief minister.