Modi regarding States as 'municipalities': Stalin

CHENNAI: Launching an all-out assault on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP regime for infringing upon the financial rights of states, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said that the PM was regarding states as 'municipalities' and deprivation of the fiscal rights of states (by the Union) was akin to cutting off oxygen supply.

In his virtual address to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who had organized a massive protest at the national capital to protect federalism, Stalin said, "Prime Minister Modi regards States as municipalities. He does not like states or the states having Chief Ministers, though he had been the chief minister of Gujarat before becoming the Prime Minister."

Recalling the distant past when former Indian Prime Minister V P Singh insisted that the then Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi shall merely put forth a request from Chennai instead of visiting Delhi, Stalin said that as soon as Modi became the PM, the first thing he did was snatch the rights of states.

Snatching fiscal states' rights akin to cutting off oxygen:

"He (Modi) snatched away the fiscal, education, language, and legal rights of states. Depriving states of their fiscal rights is akin to cutting off oxygen supply. The BJP regime is doing exactly that," alleged the Tamil Nadu CM, who deputed his IT minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan for the Delhi protest.

"Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states must not assume that this is a problem of the Opposition-ruled states. I wish to caution that this would be the plight of 'your' states tomorrow," cautioned Stalin, affirming his government's commitment to fighting the approach of the union government by citing the protest organized by his party MPs on the Parliament campus Thursday.

Reiterating that public debt to finance public expenditure of States was the prerogative of the state legislature as per the Constitution and the present dispensation at the Centre was restricting the borrowing limit of States for developmental initiatives, Stalin said that the people expect from the state government for all their daily requirements, but the BJP regime was impeding the same, which must be fought by all unitedly.

Referring to the protest organized by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddharamaiah in Jantar Mantar Wednesday against the economic oppression of the BJP regime, Stalin said that all the states were facing a financial (crunch) disaster in the post-GST regime.

He also added that the days are not far off when the BJP regime must answer to the people for pushing the states to protest for their fiscal rights.