THE CENTER CURBS THE “RIGHTS OF THE STATES”
Parliment passes Bills on the concurrent list without the concurrence of the states!
Dr. K. Veeramani
The excerpts from the speech of Dr.K.Veeramani, President, Dravidar Kazhagam, delivered at the Conference on Retrieval of the Rights of the States and condemning the Imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit on 25th August 2017 at Periyar Thidal, Chennai.
An essential factor to be stressed is that the Parliament should be restricted from passing a Bill on the concurrent list without getting the concurrence of the states. If such concurrence is not obtained from a State, the act must be inapplicable to the state concerned. This factor must be subjected to the wide discussion.
Dr.K.Veeramani opened his lecture saying that the need had arisen for such meetings to be held all over the country, because every day the rights of the states are being eroded. Tamil Nadu had a unique history of having endeavoured for the restoration of its rights since very early days.
No one should take it that the present conference is held owing to the problems caused by the recently held NEET examination and the trampling over of the States’ rights. Far from it, the first one in the whole of India to raise his voice for the rights of the State was Arignar Anna, who gave a clear picture of the problem. He spoke on the subject off and on both inside and outside the legislature. He had raised the issue repeatedly in the Parliament when he was the member of the Rajya Sabha. All the leaders of the State have raised their voice in support of the cause.
Why should the same Constitution require two cabinets? It not only causes unnecessary financial burden, but creates contradictions too. Anna asked, quoting authorities, “Why should there be two education ministers, one for the Centre and another for the States?”
When Arignar Anna became Chief Minister, he convened a State Autonomy Conference in Chennai in order to underscore the rights of the State. And he had invited many political stalwarts, including the then Chief Minister of West Bengal for it. He invited Periyar also, who was happy to attend the Conference. The youth of today must be aware of such happenings.
Kalaignar Karunanidhi continued the efforts of Anna when he became the Chief Minister. As a result many facts were revealed as to how the rights of the States were denied in the Constitution which was the guideline for the governance of India. Stalwarts like Krishnasami, a Congressman, who was usually soft spoken, emphatically declared in the Constituent Assembly that a strong Centre should not imply weak States. Quoting such instances from the deliberation, Anna affirmed that autonomy was imperative for the States and it must be asserted at any cost.
When Kalaignar Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister of the State, he not only conducted a Conference for State Antonomy but also took an extraordinary step that was a pioneering effort for the entire India. He formed a Commission of intellectuals for the purpose of protecting the rights of the States and recommending redistribution of powers between the Centre and the States ensuing the rights of the States. The Commission was headed by Justice. P.V. Rajamannar, a retired Chief Justice of Madras High Court, and had two members of equal eminence. One was Dr. A.Lakshmanasami Mudaliar, six times Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras and former Chairman of the Madras Legislative Council, and Justice Chandra Reddy, a retired justice of Madras High Court.
The Rajamannar Commission formed in 1971 by Chief Minister Kalaignar Karunanidhi, gave its report in English which has also been translated into Tamil. Justice Rajamannar, in the introductory part of the report hails the political sagacity, impartial approach to national problems and farsighted approach of Kalaignar and his services for establishing a permanent federal government in the vast country of ours. The recommendations of the commission were widely discussed at that time. The issue of the rights of the States have after been discussed.
We must understand that the list is called Concurrent List and not the common list. It implies that the concurrence of the states must be obtained before any subject in the list is legislated upon. This has been pointed out by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
When MGR was the Chief Minister, a commission was formed by the Central Government in 1985 under the Chairman of Justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria for suggesting devolution of powers between the Centre and the States. On behalf of the Government of Tamil Nadu, MGR had forwarded the recommendations to the Commission, in response to the questionnaire forwarded by it. All this will bear witness to the fact that the Dravidian Movement has been continually been active on the question.
bAll this must make everyone understand that irrespective of the changes of Government, rights of the states have consistently been the life breath of the Dravidian Movement. The present move is only a part of it.
An essential factor to be stressed is that the Parliament should be restricted from passing a Bill on the concurrent list without getting the concurrence of the states. If such concurrence is not obtained from a State, the act must be inapplicable to the state concerned. This factor must be subjected to the wide discussion.
Again, any Bill passed under Section 31A and 31C by a state legislature must be exempted from judicial review. This enlightened audience must take the matter to the street corners through discussion and issue of booklets.
People in the North will never change their views on our language issues, the travails of the Eelam Tamil, the rights of the Tamil fishermen or a number of other issues affecting us.
We must enlighten the people on the issue of the rights of the States and make them realize that States are not to be treated as puppets manipulated by strings by the Centre, they are not mere token players devoid of any authority.
A statement made by N.T. Rama Rao, the founder of Telugu Desam Party is worthy of consideration by everyone concerned.
“Where is the Central Government? It is a legal postulate. Only the States have people to govern, Centre can rule them only through the States.”
How are national schemes like national highways being implemented? Only through the States, for Centre does not have people.
Therefore, you have to keep in mind the fact the Central Government is a legal postulate. There are powers with the Centre. There are a lot of factors which point out that it is bad for unlimited powers to be concentrated with the Centre.
This is food for thought for all of you.
