Stalin’s move came days after the Supreme Court pulled up the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for ‘sitting’ on bills passed by the state assembly
Our Bureau
Washington, DC/New Delhi
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday stepped up his attack on the Centre making a strong pitch to give the State more autonomy in the decisions it takes. This comes in the wake of the run-ins that the DMK-led government has had with Governor RN Ravi over the clearance of various bills passed by the State assembly.
Stalin’s move came days after the Supreme Court pulled up the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi for ‘sitting’ on bills passed by the state assembly.
The Chief Minister moved a resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to appoint a high-level committee that will recommend new State autonomy and retrieve the rights of the State. The committee will be headed by Retired Justice Kurian Joseph and include retired IAS Ashok Vardan Shetty and Mu Nagarajan.
The committee will research and submit an interim report to the State by the end of January 2026, and a full report will be submitted within two years. The committee will also give recommendations on strengthening the relationship between the State and the Union Government.
Addressing the Assembly today, Stalin said, “We have lost many students due to the NEET exam. We have continuously opposed the NEET exam. In the name of the triple language policy, the Union Government is trying to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu. Since we have denied NEP, the Union Government has not released Rs 2500 crore to the State. In such a situation, education must be brought under the State list.”
Earlier, DMK chief and CM Stalin on Saturday attacked the BJP and AIADMK leadership and said that the people of the state will never tolerate a “treacherous alliance that bows to Delhi and betrays Tamil Nadu.”
The BJP opposed the resolution brought by TN CM MK Stalin for setting up the high-level committee to form to protect state rights. “Today, CM brought a resolution under the 110 statement to get full autonomy to the state. We cannot accept it, BJP opposed it and we walked out from the Assembly,” said Nainar Nagendran, Tamil Nadu BJP Chief.
Tamil Nadu BJP President Nainar Nagenthiran on Tuesday slammed Chief Minister MK Stalin’s resolution to appoint a high-level committee to recommend new State autonomy and retrieve the state’s rights, calling it a “separatist act”.
The state BJP President alleged that the DMK’s demand for greater powers at the state level was an attempt to centralise authority within the party. “We view the resolution brought by the Chief Minister under Rule 110 regarding state autonomy as a separatist act… The DMK are essentially saying that it wants all the power for itself,” Nagenthiran said.
But Tamil Nadu Congress President K Selvaperunthagai on Tuesday backed Chief Minister MK Stalin’s decision to form a high-level committee to look into the rights and autonomy of the state with respect to the Centre.
Voicing his party’s (Congress) support to the decision, Selvaperunthagai stated that this resolution was “need of the hour” and accused the BJP of “continuously attacking” the federal system. “This resolution is a need of the hour because the BJP continuously attacks the federal system… So we have to approach the Supreme Court for everything… Union government is bound to follow the Indian Constitution, but they want to destroy it… Congress supports this resolution…” the Tamil Nadu Congress President said.
Also, leader of Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday hit out at Chief Minister MK Stalin for calling the AIADMK-BJP tie-up a “treacherous alliance.”
Referring to changes made in the education system by centralising medical entrance examinations through NEET, Nagenthiran claimed it brought merit-based admissions in contrast to the previous system and also pointed out the DMK’s shifting stance on constitutional powers.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA and National Mahila Mocha President Vanathi Srinivasan said that the DMK calls for autonomy whenever they are in crisis. “It is not the first time the DMK party is talking about the autonomy of the state; whenever they are facing a crisis, whenever they are in power, when they are facing the anger of the people, immediately they start talking about the autonomy of the state,” she said.
