New Delhi:
Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha MP Kalisetti Appala Naidu has defended his outrageous offer to women – Rs 50,000 for the birth of a third child, and a cow if that child is a boy – by pointing to a “very poor next generation” in the state and the “very important” need to increase population in India, already the second-most populous nation with over 1.44 billion, or 144 crore, people.
The bizarre (and sexist, in giving greater ‘rewards’ for boys) offer – from a member of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party, which is also allied with the Bharatiya Janta Party at the centre – has been hailed by TDP seniors as “revolutionary”.
The ‘offer’ comes amid a row between the centre and the southern states, led by Tamil Nadu, over delimitation, i.e., the process of redrawing parliamentary constituency boundaries – based on current population data – before the 2029 general election.
The southern states have argued this means they will get fewer seats in the re-constituted Parliament because they, on average, have controlled population growth better than their northern counterparts, many of which are Hindi-speaking and seen as BJP bastions.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has been leading the charge, as also on the ‘imposition of Hindi’ on non-Hindi speaking states, via the contentious three-language formula.
Last week Mr Stalin – whose Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam also spearheaded anti-Hindi protests in Tamil Nadu in the 1930s and ’60s, which led to the DMK dominating the election that followed – invited counterparts from seven states, including Punjab and Bengal, to discuss these issues.
“Delimitation is a blatant assault on federalism, punishing states that ensured population control by stripping away our rightful voice in Parliament. We will not allow this democratic injustice!” he said on X, calling for a meeting in Chennai on March 22.
The centre has refused both charges, countering the ‘imposition’ claims by saying the new education policy and the three-language formula does not force any student to study Hindi, and deflecting criticism of delimitation by insisting the southern states will not be disadvantaged.
Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu is one of those invited by Mr Stalin, but his attendance is uncertain. Mr Naidu is an ally of the BJP and, earlier this month, sought to delink delimitation from population management. The TDP boss warned of an “aging problem” that would soon affect the south; i.e., there will be too many elderly people and not enough of working age.
“Aging problem has started in South India. Only Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have advantages in North India. We were thinking it (high population levels) is a disadvantage… but it is an advantage now,” he said. Mr Naidu also signalled a personal policy shift – to population growth.
Tamil Nadu – one of a few states in which the BJP has never managed a political foothold – votes in an Assembly election next year, with delimitation and the language issue likely to be major poll issues.
