Alleging power grab by Centre, Stalin forms autonomy panel
Making a strong pitch for empowering states, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday alleged that their rights were gradually being snatched by the Centre, and announced the constitution of a panel on state autonomy that will be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
The establishment of the high-level panel, marking half-a-century of the DMK government’s “historic” state autonomy resolution moved in the Tamil Nadu Assembly by then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, was aimed at re-asserting the principles of state autonomy in today’s context, he said while making a statement in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
The move was meant to protect the “legitimate rights” of states and to improve relations between the Union and the state governments, he claimed in the Assembly.
He utilised the occasion to flay the present AIADMK leadership, after the party MLAs staged a walkout over a different issue.
Despite their differences with the DMK, AIADMK stalwarts and late Chief Ministers MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa never compromised on state rights. “But now they (AIADMK leaders) say that principles and alliance are different…the question is what is their stand,” Stalin asked, apparently referring to the opposition party stitching up an alliance with the BJP recently.
He stressed that there was a need to strengthen cooperative federalism, laws and policies related to Centre-state ties by reviewing the provisions of the Constitution when the states’ rights were under siege.
He said BR Ambedkar unequivocally stated that “both the Union and the states are created by the Constitution…the one is not subordinate to the other in its own field and the authority of one is co-ordinate with that of the other”.
“Yet, the steady encroachment of the Union into the rightful domains of the states has disrupted the delicate constitutional balance…a strong Union is not built by weakening states. It is built by empowering them,” Stalin emphasised.
Opposition AIADMK slammed the CM over the announcement, asking what was his DMK, which shared power with the Congress-led UPA earlier, did all these years. The move was aimed at “diverting” public attention, the principal opposition party charged.
Stepping up the attack on the BJP-led NDA at the Centre, Stalin said the high-level committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph will examine in detail the relationship between the Union and state governments to ensure state autonomy. It will submit its interim report in January 2026. The final report with recommendations will be submitted in two years.
The panel will have former bureaucrat Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission M Naganathan as its members.
India