Thrissur: From repealing the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA) and restoring statehood of J&Ok to re-establishing the Planning Fee and placing into place a cooling-off interval for retired judges and civil servants, the DMK’s manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls offers greater than a glimpse of its ambition to play a bigger function in nationwide politics.
The manifesto, launched Wednesday by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Ok. Stalin on the DMK headquarters in Chennai, advocates repealing many key coverage choices of the BJP-led central authorities together with the Nationwide Training Coverage (NEP-2020), the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA-2019) and the proposal for ‘One Nation, One Election’.
The celebration additionally declared the names of its candidates for 21 parliamentary constituencies within the state.
Over the previous 12 months, Stalin has been making makes an attempt to painting himself as a nationwide chief. On his seventieth birthday final March, he introduced collectively leaders of opposition events together with the Congress, Samajwadi Social gathering and the Nationwide Convention on a single stage.
A month after the occasion, Stalin chaired the All India Federation of Social Justice Convention. Performed in hybrid mode, the convention witnessed the participation of 19 opposition events. Then Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, then Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot after which Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav had been among the many attendees. Addressing the convention, Stalin had known as for unity towards BJP and its ‘divisive politics’.
“The BJP which came to power in 2014 ruined India. The government headed by PM Modi didn’t fulfil any promises made by the party. If the BJP comes to power again, they will do anything to destroy the nation’s secular fabric and cooperative federal structure,” the DMK chief mentioned whereas releasing the celebration’s 2024 Lok Sabha polls manifesto Wednesday.
He added that the INDIA bloc was fashioned to switch the ‘authoritarian’ BJP authorities.
The manifesto, he mentioned, was ready by a crew comprising DMK MP Kanimozhi and state minister P. Thiaga Rajan, amongst others, who heard the calls for of residents from throughout Tamil Nadu.
“The DMK is a regional party, at the same time we are a part of the INDIA alliance. So, our manifesto expresses the interests of both the state and the nation. When we are advocating for a federal structure, then our manifesto should reflect that and it will address most of the issues of the country,” DMK MP T. Siva mentioned after the discharge of the manifesto.
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What DMK manifesto proposes
The DMK’s manifesto proposes that statehood be restored to Jammu and Kashmir, adopted instantly by elections for the state legislature. It provides that the livelihood of the individuals of J&Ok will likely be improved if a authorities of the INDIA bloc involves energy.
The celebration can be promising to forestall the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to protect the secular nature of India as acknowledged within the Preamble to the Structure.
It provides that every one ‘people-unfriendly laws’ launched by the BJP authorities over the previous decade will likely be reviewed instantly, if the INDIA bloc is voted to energy.
Additional, it additionally guarantees that schooling and healthcare, transferred to the Concurrent Record through the Emergency, will likely be shifted again to the State Record.
The DMK additionally proposes re-establishing the Planning Fee, which was dissolved by the BJP authorities and changed by the NITI Aayog. The Planning Fee was fashioned to draft coverage based mostly on requests from state governments.
Along with this, the DMK manifesto proposes a compulsory cooling-off interval of two years to be launched for retired judges and secretaries earlier than they will be part of personal firms or political events.
The Dravidian celebration has additionally promised to waive off academic and farmers’ loans, moreover offering a month-to-month entitlement of Rs 1,000 for girls in each state, elimination of toll cubicles on nationwide highways, 50 p.c reservation in central universities for college students from respective states, interest-free loans as much as Rs 10 lakh for girls’s self-help teams, along with 33 p.c reservation for girls in Parliament and state assemblies.
The celebration says that the costs of petrol, diesel, and LPG cylinders will likely be set at Rs 75, Rs 65, and Rs 500, respectively, if the INDIA bloc is voted to energy.
Additional, the DMK’s ballot manifesto focuses on curbing the ability of governors in each state. Part 361 of the Indian Structure, which supplies particular exemption for Governors from authorized proceedings, will likely be eliminated to make sure that Governors are additionally topic to judicial scrutiny, it says. The manifesto provides that if voted to energy, the INDIA bloc would additionally provoke actions to nominate governors with the session of chief ministers as beneficial. Amendments will likely be made to make sure state governments, elected by the individuals, will appoint Vice-Chancellors to universities, fairly than Governors, it provides.
Kachchatheevu to NEET: Lengthy-pending calls for discover house
The DMK manifesto echoed many calls for made by the Tamil Nadu authorities over the previous few years. As an example, the DMK mentioned measures will likely be taken to reclaim Kachchatheevu island to make sure India’s safety and to guard the welfare of the fishermen, if the INDIA bloc is voted to energy. Reclamation of the island, at the moment underneath Sri Lankan management, has been a long-pending demand of the Tamil Nadu authorities with Stalin writing a number of letters to the Centre on completely different events for a similar.
The island, situated within the Palk Strait about 24 km northeast of Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram and roughly 22 km southwest of Delft Islands in Sri Lanka, has been a bone of rivalry between the India and Sri Lankan governments.
Owing to wealthy marine sources, fishermen of each nations are depending on water surrounding the island, which led to the arrests of Indian fishermen. With the retrieval of the island, the Tamil Nadu authorities seeks a everlasting resolution to this problem.
One other main promise by the celebration is an exemption, for college students from Tamil Nadu, from the NEET examination. The DMK, which has been a vocal critic of the examination, has alleged that this pan India pre-medical entrance check is not ‘merit’ oriented. Tamil Nadu has witnessed a number of cases of deaths of NEET aspirants by suicide over the previous few years.
Other than these, DMK can be promising the facilitation of citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamils residing in India, the institution of Tamil departments throughout all universities in India, and making Tamil an optionally available language in all central authorities examinations.
DMK retains 10 sitting MPs
On Wednesday, the DMK additionally declared its candidates for 21 of Tamil Nadu’s 39 Lok Sabha seats. The record has three girls.
In accordance with the seat-sharing settlement struck with its alliance companions, DMK allotted 9 seats to the Congress, 2 every to CPI, CPI(M), and VCK, and one every to IUML, MDMK, and KDMK (who will contest on DMK image).
Whereas the DMK record accommodates 10 sitting MPs together with senior leaders Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and T.R. Baalu, distinguished faces resembling Goutham Sigamani, sitting Kallakurichi MP and former minister Ok. Ponmudy’s son, and Dindigul MP P. Velusamy, who received by the biggest margin of greater than 5 lakhs votes within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Retained MPs embody Dayanidhi Maran (Chennai Central), Kalanidhi Veeraswamy (North Chennai), Thamizhachi Thangapandian (Chennai South), T.R. Baalu (Sriperumbudur), C.N. Annadurai (Tiruvannamalai), Kanimozhi (Thoothukudi), and A. Raja (Nilgiris).
Different candidates declared by the celebration are Ok. Selvam (Kancheepuram), Kathir Anand (Vellore), A. Mani (Dharmapuri), Dharani Vendhan (Arani), Malai Arasan (Kallakurichi), Ganapathi Rajkumar (Coimbatore), Jagathrakshakan (Arakkonam), Selvaganapathy (Salem), Eswarasamy (Pollachi), Ok.N. Arun Nehru (Perambalur), Murasoli (Thanjavur), Thanga Tamilselvan (Theni), Dr Rani (Erode), and Prakash (Erode).
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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