DMK's autonomy push vs BJP's pushback: The new flashpoint in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi (R) and Chief Minister MK Stalin

Federalism and state autonomy are once again buzzwords in Tamil Nadu after Chief Minister MK Stalin announced the formation of a high level committee to recommend steps to strengthen state autonomy and improve Centre-state relations as envisaged in the Indian constitution.

With his confrontation with Governor RN Ravi worsening by the week, Stalin mandated the committee to review constitutional provisions, laws, rules and policies related to Centre-state relations and to suggest ways to restore subjects moved from the state list to the concurrent list back to the state list.

With the new BJP state president Nainar Nagendran terming the development as a move that would weaken India, the focus is again on the DMK's stand on state rights vis-a-vis the Indian union although Stalin had made it clear that the recommendations of the committee would not compromise on the unity and integrity of the nation.

When the DMK formally gave up its demand for secession from India in 1963, after the Indian government outlawed any such call, it stressed on federalism and state autonomy as the conceptual vehicle for achieving Tamil Nadu’s rights within a united India.

In an interview in 1965, the DMK founder and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu CN Annadurai had listed five goals of the party and among them the two most important were: “Implementing true federalism by amending the Indian Constitution and securing greater autonomy for the states.”

The DMK, on its website, in January, citing the interview, argued that those objectives still remain central to DMK's ideology. “Despite the passage of time, the demand for protecting state rights and ensuring true federalism remains critical, as these fundamental issues still face authoritative challenges,” it observed.

“The Governor's position has increasingly been used as a tool to undermine the autonomy of state governments. Governors, appointed by the political parties in power at the Centre, often act to limit the freedom of state governments directly elected by the people. This interference prevents states from functioning independently and implementing policies in the best interests of their citizens,” the DMK averred.

Stalin's father and the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, in 1969, too had set up the three-member Rajamannar Committee to study the “entire issue of Centre-State relationship”. The committee was chaired by the first Indian chief justice of Madras High Court PV Rajamannar. The report was submitted in 1971. Based on it Karunanidhi government in 1974 proposed a resolution for state autonomy.

On Tuesday, Stalin, making a suo motu announcement in the Assembly, formed the high-level committee headed by the former Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph. The other members include retired IAS officer and former Vice-Chancellor of the Indian Maritime University K. Ashok Vardhan Shetty and former vice-chairman, State Planning Commission, M. Naganathan. The committee has to propose measures for States to overcome administrative challenges and suggest reforms to ensure maximum autonomy for States without compromising the unity and integrity of the nation.

Following up on what his father had done by setting up a committee, Stalin has projected the issue to be one between the centre and the states to safeguard the federal structure of the country, rather than allow it to be seen as a battle between him and Ravi. Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Governor’s action, Stalin has taken the battle to the national level.

While the BJP is sure to attack this attempt by Stalin as a revival of the DMK's long-abandoned fissiparous tendency, Stalin wants to ensure it is seen as a measure to preserve one of the core features of the Constitution: federalism. Essentially, this will be a battle of perception.

With the DMK's main rival, the AIADMK reaching an electoral understanding with the BJP, any attack by Stalin on the central government will also have a political edge. The strategy is also to depict the AIADMK as being against the state's rights as it is in bed with the BJP. The DMK is hoping to wear the mantle of the sole protector of the state's rights.

The BJP, on the other hand, believes these are issues that can be sorted through available institutional mechanisms, and that the DMK is latching on to state autonomy merely to divert attention from governance failures.