Thursday, December 27, 2012

Tamil Nadu CM walkout from NDC meet


Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa walked out of the National Development Council meet after being interrupted during her speech. At the NDC meet in the national capital, the bell rang as Jayalalithaa completed the allotted time of 10 minutes for her speech and she was asked to stop. Jayalalithaa said 10 minutes were not enough for a Chief Minister to complete his or her speech and walked out of the meet. She said to reporters that,
"I began my speech, as soon 10 minutes were over, they rang the bell, I felt humiliated"
"I have attended many conferences before convened by the PM, such a procedure has never been followed in the past"
She also accused the government of stifling the voices of opposition states. "The plan document is so lengthy and encompasses so many subjects that CMs can't express their views in 10 minutes. Just to allot 10 minutes and humiliate, this is a move to stifle the voice of opposition states"
"We, in Tamil Nadu, have been particularly hard hit by the attitude of the Government of India. Every single legitimate request of our State has been turned down or ignored and every initiative stymied", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told in NDC meet at Delhi.
 She said the Centre came out with a “new method” of limiting the speeches of Chief Ministers to 10 minutes which was not enough to articulate their views. Each Chief Minister was alloted 10 minutes and was forewarned. Ms. Jayalalithaa had come to Page 10 out of her 28-page speech when the bell rang. Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had come prepared with several points to “enlighten the interest of Tamil Nadu and the interest of the nation.” The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister immediately left for Chennai cutting short her stay.
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Earlier, in her speech, Ms. Jayalalithaa said she found that no reasonable and legitimate suggestion from the states had been accepted and the “big brotherly and undemocratic approach of superimposing on elected state governments the dubious policies, priorities and programmes of a minority ruling coterie in Delhi has prevailed.” She said that, we get the impression that the government at the Centre is indifferent about reducing poverty...The Union Government, far from serving the common man, is conspiring against him by hiking the prices of essential commodities and inputs and appears more focused on facilitating the interests of foreign investors.
She also added that, the regime at the Centre, caught up in the daily squabbles of its constituents, in merely trying to survive from day-to-day, has neither the time nor the inclination to pay attention to the problems of the people of this country.
Ms. Jayalalithaa accused the Centre of being “completely ineffective” in playing its constitutional role in ensuring that the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal is duly notified so that it can be implemented and the rights of Tamil Nadu as a lower riparian state are protected.
            The central government has also failed in protecting the citizens of the country — the fishermen belonging to Tamil Nadu — from attacks across the maritime boundary.
She said even a simple request from a state PSU for a Digital Addressable System (DAS) Licence for Chennai City has not been granted on totally extraneous considerations and alleged that the delay is intended to facilitate the switching over of subscribers to a family-owned TV network, in a clear reference to Marans—owned network. The deliberate non-issuance of DAS licence to the state government—owned Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation is only to facilitate the business interests of a particular family which forms part of the ruling coalition at the Centre.

A state’s problem in 10 minutes - this is absolute nonsense. We are talking about plan outlays worth thousands of crores here. And the state CM gets just 10 mins to make his/her case? This should be discussed at length whatever time it takes ! Planning commission seems to be operating in a "I give. you take" mode. India is UNION OF STATES, without states there is no INDIA. Why can't they conduct NDC meet for two - three days. what's going to be wrong in this? {IAS/IPS meet in Tamil Nadu held for three days} Though Jaya's boycott is not a good gesture, but no option for TN.
 10 நிமிட நேரத்தில் என்ன விஷயத்தை வெளியிட முடியும். முதல்வர்கள் டெல்லி போவதற்கு 10 மணி நேரம் ஆகும். 10 நாட்கள் இரவு பகலாக உட்கார்ந்து புள்ளி விபரங்கள் தயார் செய்ய வேண்டும். வெறும் 10 நிமிடத்தில் உங்கள் பேச்சை முடித்துகொள்ளுங்கள் என்றால், மாண்புமிகு தலைவர் அவர்களே என்று கூறிவிட்டு உட்கார வேண்டியதுதான். இதற்கு எதற்கு முதலமைச்சர்கள் கூடும் தேசிய அபிவிருத்தி கூட்டம். 35 முதல்வர்கள் பேசுவதற்கு தலா 10 நிமிடமாம். குட்டி யூனியன் பிரதேசங்கள் உள்ளன. அவைகளுக்கும் 10 நிமிடம். பெரிய மாநிலங்களான தமிழ் நாடு போன்றவைகளுக்கும் அதே 10 நிமிடமா? என்ன நியாயம். பழைய ராணுவ மந்திரி கிருஷ்ண மேனன் ஐ.நா. சபையில் 15 மணி நேரம் தொடர்ந்து பேசியிருக்கிறார். 10 நிமிட நேரத்தில் பிரதமர் மன்மோகன் சிங் வாழ்க மற்றும் மந்த்ரிகள் வாழ்க என்று சொல்லி அமர வேண்டியதுதான்.

 What is NDC? Click here:


A similar walkout, 28 years ago
        Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s walkout from the National Development Council (NDC) meeting is reminiscent of a similar protest staged by four non-Congress Chief Ministers 28 years ago. At that time, on July 12, 1984, the four Chief Ministers — N.T. Rama Rao (Andhra Pradesh), Jyoti Basu (West Bengal), Ramakrishna Hegde (Karnataka) and Nripen Chakraborty (Tripura) — were protesting against the dismissal of the Farooq Abdullah government in Jammu and Kashmir.
There was an exchange of words between Rama Rao and Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister and NDC chairperson, preceded the walkout. As Rama Rao began reading a statement on behalf of the four Chief Ministers, he was interrupted by the Prime Minister. But Rao and the three other Chief Ministers insisted that he be allowed to complete his statement. Indira Gandhi took the view that the NDC was not a political forum and the meeting was meant to discuss the Seventh Five-Year Plan. After the four Chief Ministers walked out, a resolution, adopted by the Council condemned their action. It was moved by Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunankaran and seconded by Panruti S. Ramachandran, who was then the Electricity Minister of Tamil Nadu].
Though the two walkouts vary in detail, there are some common features. Just as Ms. Jayalalithaa criticised the Centre’s attitude towards non-Congress Chief Ministers and causing “humiliation” to a Constitutional authority by not allowing her to speak beyond 10 minutes, Rama Rao, who led the walkout in 1984, too faulted the Union government’s attitude. The Chief Minister said the spirit of Centre-State relations had become a casualty of the Centre’s attitude towards non-Congress governments. In particular, the Union government was displaying a “step-motherly” attitude towards Andhra Pradesh. The Centre’s attitude, he said, was insulting to the governments of non-Congress States which were voted into office by the people.

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