Today’s protest organised by the Kerala government at Jantar Mantar on February 8 (Thursday) was on the attacks on federalism by the Centre, especially anomalies in devolution of resources, turned out to be a gathering of Opposition States.

Besides Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who inaugurated the protest, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann joined the protests. Senior political leaders such as CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary D. Raja, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Rajya Sabha member and lawyer Kapil Sibal, Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and several Ministers, MPs and MLAs belonging to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala too attended the gathering. Members of INDIA bloc partners other than the Congress and the Trinamool Congress also participated in the protest.

Facts

For every one-rupee Maharashtra gives Centre, it gets back Rs 0.08 paise, Karnataka gets Rs 0.15 paise, Gujarat gets Rs 0.28 paise, TN Rs 0.29 paise, while UP gets Rs 2.73 and Bihar gets Rs 7.06. At some stage, ‘penalising’ states for better demographic and economic performance was always going to become an issue. That most of these states are south of the Vindhyas and are opposition ruled gives their demands a political edge. Besides, the flood-hit opposition ruled states like Himachal Pradesh (HP) and TN and drought hit Karnataka have also claimed that their relief funds delayed. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has been vociferously claiming that Bengal’s MNREGA funds are being denied. Interestingly, way back a decade, when Narendra Modi was chief minister (CM), Gujarat, he used to make claims that the then UPA government was discriminating against Gujarat? Today’s detailed state issues are the manner in which the 16th Finance Commission has disbursed funds. The issue is crucial for co-operative federalism to be more than just a slogan

Democratic protest: Vijayan

In his inaugural address on Thursday morning, Mr. Vijayan said when federalism is destroyed, it will cause losses to all the States. “On top of that are the politically motivated actions against non-BJP-run States. Efforts are on by certain sections to depict the genuine demands of States as an issue of north-south divide. It is totally untrue, unfounded and baseless. Ours is a democratic protest against the undoing of federal structure and the sheer discrimination against the States irrespective of north-south considerations. However, taking into account the interests of our people and our State, we cannot be quiet,” he said.

Governors creating impediments: Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal said the situation has become such that the States have to come to Jantar Mantar to protest demanding their rights. “Mr. Vijayan is not here to ask some money for his family. He is here to get the allocations due to Kerala,” said Mr. Kejriwal, adding that other than denying resources, the Centre is using Governors and Lieutenant Governors to create impediments to the Opposition-ruled governments.

He referred to the arrests of Opposition leaders and said it is “a tactic” used by the BJP to silence Opposition. “We, the Opposition parties, represent 70 crore people of this country. Are you considering these States as your enemies?” Mr. Kejriwal asked, seeking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s explanation on the “attacks on federal rights.”

Mr. Mann said the Centre has denied shares of revenues to Punjab too. He said the BJP is “busy communalising” the country and that Punjab needs no lessons from the Sangh Parivar on patriotism.

DMK Lok Sabha MPs wear black robes to protest over non-allocation of funds to Tamil Nadu

Meanwhile, at another venue outside Parliament, beside the Gandhi statue, DMK member G Selvam said they are protesting against Centre not releasing flood relief funds. It has been raising the issue for last few days both inside and outside Parliament.

DMK wore black robes in protest against Centre over non allocation of requisite funds to Tamil Nadu in the interim budget. “We are wearing black robes in protest against Centre not releasing flood relief funds,” DMK member G Selvam told PTI. The DMK has been raising the issue of non-allocation of funds for the last few days both inside and outside Parliament.

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Karnataka leads the southern states’ protest against squeeze of funds by Modi regime

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Making a strong and emotive point, with statistics, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka’s share in central taxes came down to 3.64% under the 15th Finance Commission from 4.71% under the 14th Finance Commission. “This decrease resulted in a loss of Rs 62,098 crore,” he said. Pointing a clear finger at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Siddaramaiah said Karnataka was not given Rs 11,495 crore of special grants recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. “Altogether, Karnataka missed out on a total of Rs 73,593 crore,” he said.

The complete stoppage of the GST compensation has hurt Karnataka, Siddaramaiah said. “Before GST, our state’s tax collection growth was at 15%…compensation was discontinued in June 2022. This has significantly impacted our ability to achieve a 15% tax collection growth rate again,” he said. With cess and surcharges not devolved to the states, Karnataka is losing another Rs 45,322 crore, Siddaramaiah said.

“Karnataka is the second-highest tax collector after Maharashtra. The state contributes Rs 4.30 lakh crore in tax revenue. However, the state receives only around Rs 12-13 out of every Rs 100 in taxes,” Siddaramaiah explained. Siddaramaiah refuted claims by BJP leaders that Karnataka received more funds under the NDA government.

“In 2017-18, the union budget size was Rs 21.46 lakh crore. We got Rs 47,980 crore under devolution and grant-in-aid. In 2018-19, the union budget size was Rs 24.42 lakh crore and we got Rs 51,157 crore. In 2019-20, the union budget size was Rs 27.86 lakh crore and we got Rs 54,814 crore. In 2023-24, the union budget size is Rs 45.03 lakh crore. But the state is receiving Rs 50,257 crore. How is it that the state got more funds?” Siddaramaiah said.

Siddaramaiah also said that Karnataka did not get Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project as announced in the previous union budget.

Kerala

Finance Minister KN Balagopal’s fourth Budget speech that lasted for around two-and-a-half hours was marked by liberal criticisms of the Union government for neglecting the needs of the state. He referred to the alleged denial of the state’s legitimate share of plan fund allocation, centrally collected taxes, and central government-sponsored projects.

The finance minister said: “The Centre provides only ₹ 21 against Kerala’s tax collection of every ₹ 79. That is, only ₹ 21 out of ₹ 100 is the Centre’s contribution. Uttar Pradesh gets ₹ 46 out of ₹ 100 from the Centre.”

Tamil Nadu to join Kerala in the protest of MLAs, MPs and ministers led by Kerala CM Vijayan at Delhi on 8th against the Union government.Karnataka protests independently on 7th.Restructuring of Centre- States relations comes to the forefront on the eve of parliament elections.

— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) February 7, 2024

Balagopal said Kerala would have to consider “Plan B” if the Centre’s neglect towards the state continued. However, he did not specifically detail the plan. The minister said the Budget has thrown open the gates for private investment to salvage Kerala from a severe financial crisis. He said he was expecting a revenue of ₹1,38,655 crore and an expenditure of ₹1,84,327 crore in the next financial year.

Balagopal pegged the revenue deficit at ₹27,846 crore, 2.12 percent of the state’s GDP, and the fiscal deficit at ₹44,529 crore, 3.4 percent.

“Futuristic technological strides, an exponential rise in demand, and the resultant economic development define the sunrise sectors. This is unlike the sunset sectors, which have weakening demand and are driven by technologies destined for obsolescence,” Balagopal said in his opening statement.

#WATCH | On state government’s protest against Central govt in Delhi, Kerala Minister MB Rajesh says, “This protest is mainly against the Centre’s discrimination against Kerala. The Central govt has denied us Rs 57,400 crores. It has reduced our revenue deficit grant, there is no… pic.twitter.com/6HWx7DptDZ

— ANI (@ANI) February 7, 2024

Tamil Nadu

Meanwhile, PTI reports that Tamil Nadu also announced a ‘black shirt demonstration’ in New Delhi on Thursday, February 8 at the Gandhi statue outside Parliament. Condemning what the party called the union government’s ‘partiality’ in not appropriately funding the State to tackle the situation arising out of damage caused by the recent cyclone, rains and flood, DMK MP and the party’s Parliamentary party leader, T R Baalu said MPs from alliance parties, including the Congress have been requested to join them in the national capital.

According to the state’s claim, in the interim union budget, there was no announcement on Tamil Nadu’s representation seeking relief to the tune of about Rs 37,000 crore following the cyclone, unprecedented rains and flood in December 2023.

“Also, there was no announcement in the interim budget on fund allocation for Tamil Nadu’s development projects including establishment of the AIIMS in Madurai,” a DMK release said.

The DMK Parliamentarians will stage the protest demonstration at 10 am on February 8 near the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex.

Following the interim budget presentation, DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin condemned the Centre for making ‘no announcements on financial allocation’ to Tamil Nadu.

(Report has been compiled with inputs from Deccan Herald, Print, SouthFirst and PTI)

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