Tamil Nadu minister's ‘10 children’ jibe on North Indians draws flak from BJP

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin has referred to the delimitation exercise as the “sword” hanging over the head of the state.

Tamil Nadu minister Duraimurugan on Thursday drew a controversial comparison between marriage relations in the state and North India while referring to the threat of reduced parliamentary seats due to the delimitation exercise.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, state water resources minister Thiru Duraimurugan (Center), party MPs TR Baalu and others attend Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MPs meeting at party headquarters in Chennai.(HT File)

Chief minister MK Stalin has referred to the delimitation exercise as the “sword” hanging over the head of the state. An all-party meeting convened by the ruling-DMK on March 6 demanded a freeze in Lok Sabha seat numbers for the next 30 years citing demographic composition seen as unfavourable to Tamil Nadu and other South Indian states.

Addressing a public gathering, Duraimurugan, known for colloquial remarks, said that Tamil Nadu's population growth trajectory has been controlled due to its emphasis on family planning initiatives and people prefer to have one child. He referred to the slogan “we two, ours one”, and said the priorities of newly married have shifted from having two children to just one.

Alluding to customs in North Indian states, Duraimurugan said in the undated video, “Those people give birth to 10 children like pigs do,” while pointing out how a newly married couple he met in Tamil Nadu preferred to postpone childbirth by “four years.”

The minister alleged that the Centre wants to reduce the state's parliamentary representation citing a lower share in India's overall population and called for married individuals to give birth in “greater speed.”

Duraimurugan's remark drew flak from state BJP leader Amar Prasad Reddy who demanded MK Stalin to apologise. “DMK’s senior-most leader and Minister Duraimurugan has insulted them by calling them pigs. This kind of derogatory remark is unacceptable and exposes DMK’s deep-seated hatred,” he wrote on X.

“Stalin’s silence is proof of his party’s anti-North Indian mindset. He must take responsibility and apologize immediately!,” he added.

State BJP had boycotted the all-party meeting after its president Annamalai accused MK Stalin of spreading “imaginary fears” before the exercise's official commencement. He termed the meeting an occasion to “spread your (Stalin's) imaginary fears and deliberately lie about it".

Home Minister Amit Shah had sought to allay fears in Tamil Nadu, saying southern states will get a fair share of seats in the delimitation exercise. “The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has made it clear in the Parliament that on a pro-rata basis, redrawing of parliamentary constituencies based on population levels will not alter the proportion of Lok Sabha members of Parliament from the southern states,” Shah said.