- 30 minutes ago
The proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies triggered a sharp debate at the India Today Conclave South, with Congress leader Jabi Mather warning that a population-based exercise could reduce the political voice of southern states. BJP MP Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and TDP MP Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu defended delimitation as a constitutional process, with Wadiyar accusing Congress of "changing the goalposts". BRS leader KR Suresh Reddy said his party was not opposed to delimitation but wanted the South’s existing share of representation protected. "We are okay with delimitation, if you maintain the existing share," he said, while calling for a mechanism to ensure proportional representation and a fair share of central resources. The debate also expanded to federalism and fiscal devolution, with Mather arguing that southern states should not be "punished" for successfully implementing population-control measures. While Mather alleged that federalism was being compromised, Devarayalu said Centre-state relations should be based on partnership and urged states to use forums such as the Finance Commission and GST Council to raise their concerns.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I will quickly introduce our panelists and our guests to you in the morning.
00:04We had a member of Rajya Sabha, Congress J.B. Mathur, who looked lovely in a beautiful, traditional Kerala sari.
00:11And she says, I'm now good. I'm going to say all the lovely things that Kerala is. It's for my
00:16state.
00:17I'm going to come back at 5 o'clock dressed in all white because then I have to fight.
00:21So, come on, Ms. J.B. Mathur, let's get you on stage all ready to fight.
00:25And who is she fighting with? Let me introduce our other guest to you, Mr. Yaduvir Krishna Dutta, Jhama Raja
00:32Wadhyar, member of Lok Sabha Bharatiya Janata Party.
00:36Raise a warm applause for the both of them. Please come up on stage.
00:40May I also call upon Lavu Shri Krishna Devaralyu, member of Lok Sabha Parliamentary Party leader, TDP, Vice Chairman, Vigyan
00:49University.
00:50Warm applause, ladies and gentlemen. As I also call upon, K.R. Suresh Reddy, former member of Rajya Sabha BRS.
00:57Thank you, all four of you, for joining us.
01:00So, the three gentlemen who are with Ms. Mehta, please get ready to fight.
01:05She was very clear that right now, in the morning, I'm coming to say all lovely things about Kerala because
01:12it's my state.
01:12And it's my honor, five o'clock is time to fight.
01:17All right, so let's begin with the opening statements.
01:22And Ms. Mehta, let's begin with you.
01:24The moot point, southern challenge, federalism, delimitation and the politics of power.
01:30What shall we begin with?
01:31Delimitation, proportional representation, something that your various chief ministers,
01:36that the two of, that you have in the southern states, have championed for,
01:42where Mr. Reddy have even gone a step further and said,
01:46I will give a hybrid model to it, where delimitation is concerned.
01:50So, in the current context of what, in all probability, delimitation is envisaged as by the home minister,
02:00that southern states will get a proportional increase.
02:03What's wrong with that?
02:07Thank you, Preeti.
02:10Delimitation, it's not just the drawing of constituencies.
02:16Delimitation, as it is envisaged now, it has serious repercussions because look at the history,
02:24look at what happened.
02:25When the government, the consequent government of all times,
02:29when they brought in for the population control,
02:33the southern states implemented it in a very strict manner and whether it is education,
02:41whether it is health, whether it is such matters, the southern states did play a role
02:47and now we have reached a point where southern states are going to be punished
02:51because we implemented the schemes of those times perfectly.
02:57Now, we cannot be punished for that.
02:59So, for example, and that is one aspect of delimitation, second aspect of delimitation,
03:07Preeti, I really wish to ask you, now, how can we trust this government?
03:13We just had the session before on election commission, the kind of things that's happening in the country today.
03:19I'm not getting into that, but a government which has misused every possible constitutional body as their puppet.
03:28Now, delimitation exercise can be just another way back in 1812 in the United States,
03:36gerrymandering happened.
03:37Gerrymandering, the constituency, the districts were divided in the shape of a salamander.
03:42But that time, the media had the spine to coin the term gerrymandering
03:47because gerry is the governor of the time and mandering salamander, it looked like salamander.
03:54My question to you, very honest question…
03:56Why are you asking me any questions?
03:58You are three other panelists here.
04:00No, this question, I wish to ask you, now delimitation comes again as CBI or IT
04:07or any election commission, everything is compromised.
04:10You are saying basically, Ms. Mata, that you don't have faith in the institution that will conduct delimitation,
04:17especially at the back of what has happened in terms of the recent events.
04:20That's what you are saying because your point number one, where it comes about proportional representation,
04:26it's something that the Home Minister says he guarantees,
04:28that southern states will get proportional representation.
04:32Karnataka per se will go from 28 to 42 as per the calculation.
04:37Andhra 25 to 50, Telangana 17 seats to 26.
04:40Tamil Nadu 39 seats to 59.
04:43Overall, from 129, you'll roughly reach about 200, which is proportional representation.
04:48So let me clarify, it is not just the constitutional bodies.
04:52One who is playing with the constitutional bodies is the issue here.
04:56And I did not ask the question, just like the 1812 gerrymandering, if the delimitation happens,
05:04now the Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah decides to have the constituency in the shape of a spider or a
05:11salamander,
05:12how many journalists, how many newspapers, how many political cartoonists will draw or coin the term shah mandering or shah
05:21spidering?
05:22How many will do it?
05:23Okay, so you don't believe the Home Minister when he says proportional representation, correct?
05:28I don't believe because I have no reason to believe, neither the country believes, neither citizens believe anything what they
05:34say now.
05:35Allow me to cut across to the other panellists.
05:37Mr. Krishna wanted to come in, quickly dive into this.
05:41Why do you believe, with what Ms. Mehta is saying, where the Home Minister says there will be proportional representation,
05:47that your interests where the southern states are, especially of carrying out population control, you won't pay the price of
05:57it?
05:57Congress, if you observed, in the last six months have got into this habit of changing the goalpost, continuously changing
06:08the goalpost.
06:09Now this is something that they come up with something new, gerrymandering.
06:12Before that they said, you need to have the proportional representation, we need to have that 50%.
06:18Before that they said, when are you passing the Women's Reservation Bill?
06:21When we passed the Women's Reservation Bill in 2023, and when it's clearly said, after the delimitation, it will be
06:29done.
06:29Once the delimitation is done, through a transparent way where the commission will be formed, it has been done multiple
06:37times.
06:37So you have to believe in the institution, you have to believe in the processes, instead of changing the goalposts
06:43every two months or three months.
06:46Mr. Krishna, what stops the government, that you are a part of today, to have Women's Reservation on the current
06:52strength of the House?
06:54That's something that the opposition parties have constantly maintained.
06:57Let me remind you something.
06:59In 2005, in the UPA1, when Manmohanji government wanted to bring in the Women's Reservation,
07:07the first proposal in that was 33% reservation.
07:11What was the second proposal in that?
07:13Second proposal was increasing the number of seats.
07:17They themselves have brought it in 2005, at which we are doing it now.
07:22They said it.
07:23Congress has brought it up.
07:24You can check the records.
07:26So you refer to the Congress records when you choose to, and you don't refer to them when you don't
07:31want to.
07:31It's not referring when we choose to.
07:34It is the most rightful way of doing it.
07:38And we have given the reasons for why it is being done, and logical reasons have been given.
07:44And when they have done it, when they have moved the proposal, and now when we say this, they change
07:51the goalposts.
07:51Again, they say, you are changing the census.
07:53And we are putting the census based, increase the number of seats based on 1971 census.
07:58We are not moving that census.
08:00We are doing the increase of the seats based on that.
08:03They asked for that.
08:04DMK has asked for that in the seven-point resolution they have made.
08:07So when opposition has done this earlier, when we are doing it, they are just worried.
08:14Because I will tell you the reason later, when we get into the details, they are worried about the election
08:20results in 2029.
08:21Because what they have seen in 2024, when women turn out to vote, and when women experienced the benefits of
08:28triple talak,
08:29what will happen, they have seen in Bihar.
08:32So maybe because of that, they are scared.
08:34All right.
08:35So you are saying that they are scared because of Bihar.
08:36All right.
08:37Allow me to bring in Mr. Krishna Dutta.
08:40Mr. Krishna Dutta, do you have faith that there will be proportional representation,
08:45that the interests of the South that you represent, despite of you being with the BJP, will be honored?
08:53Well, the parliamentary discussion specifically said so.
08:57And in fact, it goes up by a full percentage point, but largely remains the same.
09:02Karnataka itself gets 14 more seats.
09:04So that's, you know, a jump there.
09:06So you're not going proportionally as per, or rather you're not going as per the census data, but actually proposing
09:12a 50% increase all across the southern states.
09:14So we will maintain the same proportionality that we have before, and at the same time getting more representation and
09:21more MPs in parliament.
09:23So when our colleague here says that it's a lack of faith, I think that's really translating a lack of
09:30faith in their own leadership.
09:31I think their own leadership's inability to come in and use the institutional framework to actually express the sentiments or
09:41the inaccuracies that they claim to be having is resulting in them taking it to the streets and expressing it
09:49as a lack of faith,
09:50rather than using the institutional framework to move a process that is purely constitutional and something that is a process
09:58only.
09:58Mr. Krishnodatta, we had just about two hours ago, Mr. Rovesi as well, and he raised a pertinent point, case
10:05and example with what Mr. Mather is saying about Assam and gerrymandering where she's put them together.
10:10The state of Assam can be used, as per Mr. Rovesi, as a prototype where, because of delimitation, you have
10:17ineffectively made a constituency, you might call them Muslim, completely ineffective,
10:22where you've limited them to a certain pocket because of delimitation, where certain constituencies are actually divided in three parts
10:31to make one constituency.
10:33So it's an example that the Congress gives very often. It's an example that was given on this stage by
10:38Mr. Rovesi as well.
10:40If that were true, then, I mean, the parties that did the delimitation process before should have won every election
10:46that came after.
10:48See, gerrymandering, et cetera, are convenient excuses, and it all goes back to the old saying, you know, a bad
10:53workman blames his tools.
10:55They are refusing to correct themselves in the processes within their own parties, correct their leadership, correct their outlook,
11:03and actually voice the concerns of the people, and instead want to blame institutional processes.
11:09Convenient excuses of gerrymandering are really useless in front of the people because it really does not have much of
11:16an effect on the outcome.
11:17By that yardstick, Karnataka, we should have won every single election because we did the delimitation process before in 2001
11:24when the current constituencies have come.
11:25But we've seen varying results over time. So it isn't true at all.
11:30The results and the outcomes are based on the vote that people see and the narratives that election, that parties
11:35bring up in elections.
11:36The convenient excuse they are using of gerrymandering, lack of faith, is actually pertains to their own parties
11:44and their own lack of accountability within their own parties.
11:47Where does the BRS stand on this, Mr. Reddy? Because at least the bent and the side of the three
11:55representatives on this stage is very clear.
11:58Everybody wonders, will the BRS abstain? Will the BRS vote?
12:02What will the BRS do when the proposal for delimitation comes? Where does your party stand?
12:08Well, my party will stand with the South, as always, which we did earlier too.
12:14And I'm glad today's panel also is united on delimitation.
12:18But I'd also like to add that...
12:20Who is it united?
12:21Well, on delimitation, on South, we have the same stand.
12:24Which is?
12:25Which is maintain the 24% of our strength in Parliament, which we have today.
12:33So, what the government said was they would.
12:37But there was a huge difference between the content and the intent.
12:42When you look at what they promised and what the bill envisaged in the House, we're totally different.
12:48So, that's the point when the old minister says that I'll go out, come back in an hour and change
12:53it accordingly.
12:54So, that is where the trust factor kicks in.
12:57And we are the victims of delimitation.
13:00To quote the example, the AP reorganization bill envisaged an increase in seats.
13:07It only...
13:08It didn't happen only in Andhra and Talangana, whereas it happened in Assam.
13:12It happened in Jammu Kashmir.
13:15And gerrymandering, as she rightly said, did happen there.
13:19You know, the constituencies were cut as per convenience.
13:22So, they happened in such a way, instead of the voter chasing its leader,
13:26the leaders were choosing their voters.
13:29So, this is where our major concern is.
13:31So, we are okay for, as far as the delimitation is concerned,
13:36if you maintain the ratio, what we are today, we support it.
13:40So, you are okay with if there's equitable representation?
13:43We are okay with the percentage of what we stand today.
13:46If it stays, we are okay.
13:48Okay.
13:49So, then in effect, that's what you're being promised?
13:51Well, no, that's what has been promised, but that's not what has been said in the bill.
13:55No, but the bill will...
13:56A new form of the bill where the Home Minister said,
13:58you give me an hour and I will come back and make an introduction into that bill.
14:03Well, like I said, intent and content is where the suspect comes in.
14:06So, if the content is equitable representation...
14:09Yes, without changing the proportion as it stands today.
14:13And that is what is promised.
14:14So, that means it's three is to one, Ms. J.B. Mather, on this panel.
14:20You really have to now come out offline where the fight is concerned.
14:26Delimitation.
14:26Let me, first of all, let me also clarify, Congress stand this very clear,
14:31even when the delimitation, the Women Reservation Bill was brought in 2023.
14:37We had clearly said in the Parliament, when you're bringing Women Reservation,
14:43do not link it with delimitation.
14:46Have delimitation separate and Women Reservation separate.
14:50No, but the government wants to show it as Women Reservation
14:54and get the delimitation done in the way they want is what happened.
14:59Now, Women Reservation, Congress has all the authority to speak about.
15:03We implemented Women Reservation in the panchayats and local bodies across India,
15:09not by increasing the number of seats.
15:12Whatever is the existing seats, we did the Women Reservation.
15:16And when it comes to this delimitation,
15:19it is why did Vajpayee extend it by 25 years?
15:23Why did Indira Gandhi extend it by 25 years?
15:26It is not just the Congress government which extended,
15:29because this is respecting the effective implementation of the center's decision.
15:36And we are not asking for a privilege.
15:39South India is not asking for a privilege,
15:42or South India is not asking with a begging bowl.
15:46We are asking for political voice to be equivalent to what we deserve.
15:52And that should be, that should get that due respect.
15:55We are not here to take any other undue advantage of it.
16:00We are here to ask.
16:02See, we have done what the center has asked.
16:05Now, give us the benefit of that.
16:08Don't snatch away the political voice from us
16:11by increasing the numbers in the way they want.
16:14And also, one more thing I want to clarify.
16:16They say in the bill, in the bill, as he rightly pointed out,
16:20there is absolutely nothing said about
16:23this is going to be the proportional increase.
16:26There was nothing.
16:27And in the middle of the night only the bill comes.
16:31MPs do not even get the chance to go through that.
16:33And then the discussion happens.
16:35In the middle of the night till 3 a.m.,
16:37when media is not there,
16:39they would want to pass whatever they want.
16:41The bill might come.
16:42Now, we don't know when it's going to come,
16:43because it's been in the coming for a while.
16:45The parliament has also not been prorogued,
16:48so it can come any time.
16:50But if it does come in a new form,
16:53right now the count on this table is 3 is to 1,
16:56where 3 will vote for it and 1 will vote against it.
17:01But with what Mr. Mather said,
17:02and I will bring in the TDP spokesperson
17:05and the leader as well, Mr. Lavushree Krishna,
17:08the fact is, if you look at Mr. Revant Reddy,
17:12the chief minister of Telangana,
17:13he's made a strong point for the south collectively,
17:16where he says that the south is the economic engine of the country.
17:20There is a huge fiscal divide between the north and the south.
17:24Instead of us paying the price of population control,
17:28why can't we have it at a 50-50?
17:31He's given his own way of conducting the delimitation.
17:3650% proportional increase, 50% on GSDP,
17:40the gross state domestic product.
17:42Base it on that and then do it.
17:45Give us at least the benefit of what we add to the economy.
17:48Why wouldn't the TDP support this?
17:51I request him to do, try to do,
17:55within Telangana,
17:57at least move the proposal
17:58of doing the assembly delimitation
18:00with the same formula,
18:03wherein you add economic principle to it.
18:06So the number of seats will increase
18:09in the Hyderabad city area
18:11and proportionate representation
18:14will increase in Hyderabad city area
18:16and whereas the rural area will suffer.
18:19Do you want that?
18:21Is it what is expected
18:23by the people of Telangana or people of India?
18:27I don't think that's the way to go.
18:30We, as envisaged from the start,
18:35one vote is equally important
18:41to every other vote.
18:42So anyways, that has moved out
18:44because after 1971,
18:46it has moved out
18:47and it has become state-wise.
18:49So when, at least within the state,
18:51let's give that each vote
18:53an equal share of it.
18:55So when we have to do that,
18:58if you go by that formula,
18:59as I told you earlier,
19:00it will kind of pull the needle
19:03towards the states that are,
19:05or not only states,
19:06regions within the states
19:08that are economically prosperous
19:10than the regions within the state
19:12which are not economically prosperous.
19:13But Mr. Krishna,
19:14you do know your own leader,
19:15Mr. Chandrubabu Naidu,
19:16had often pointed out
19:18wealthier states subsidizing poor states.
19:20And I will speak of when,
19:22and I'll quote him on that,
19:24where he speaks of a raw deal
19:26where tax devaluation is concerned
19:28to the southern state.
19:29To quote him,
19:30South India contributes,
19:31and this is of course
19:32much before he was in alliance
19:33with the BJP,
19:35before there was an NDA.
19:36South India contributes,
19:3731% of GDP receives 18% of devaluation.
19:41How is this fair?
19:42How is this fair, Mr. Krishna,
19:44in today's political context?
19:46One thing I want to make it very clear.
19:47This center versus state,
19:49it's a partnership.
19:50That's what we believe in.
19:53And TDP is not for any confrontation
19:55with the center,
19:56but at the same time,
19:58TDP is not in favor
19:59of foregoing the interest
20:01of Andhra Pradesh.
20:03We want that partnership
20:04to go with the center and states,
20:07and all states should have,
20:08should get the fair share
20:10from the center.
20:11That is what we believe in.
20:12You don't want Andhra to lose out,
20:13is what you're saying.
20:14And we have enough avenues
20:16for any state not to lose out,
20:18because zonal meetings are happening,
20:20regional meetings are happening.
20:21Allow me to give you a data point.
20:22As per the current data point,
20:26Andhra's devaluation share
20:27has fallen from 7.70,
20:29which is Finance Commission 11,
20:31to 4.05,
20:34Finance Commission 15.
20:36What does the TDP think about this?
20:38What's the first number?
20:397.70%,
20:41which is Finance Commission 11,
20:43and it has fallen to 4.05%.
20:46I think that was before Andhra being united
20:50and Andhra after division of Andhra.
20:52No, no, it has progressively fallen.
20:56The figures that I have.
20:57The figures, I think, was not...
21:00No, these are the current data points.
21:02The devaluation to Andhra Pradesh
21:04is very much happening,
21:05and if you've seen in the last two end of years,
21:07at least,
21:08us, Andhra Pradesh,
21:09being a revenue-definite state,
21:12the way that we have taken
21:16good partnership going with the center,
21:18also taken good advantage
21:19with the partnership with the center,
21:21anyone can see that,
21:23and everyone who is talking about it,
21:27either here or in the center or anywhere,
21:29they're saying that Andhra is getting the face share.
21:31Okay.
21:32Mr. Krishna Dutta,
21:33you represent the BJP.
21:35Center says there's equal...
21:37equitable distribution and representation.
21:39The figures don't quite add up to it,
21:41where you look at tax devaluation,
21:44which comes back to the southern states.
21:46You seemingly are adding a lot more,
21:48then you get back.
21:49How do you go to your constituency
21:50and explain that to them?
21:52I mean, it's very convenient to use one figure.
21:55We can use others as well.
21:56If you compare the 10-year period of UPA
21:58and the 10-year period prior to 2024
22:00with the NDA that's come,
22:03we have over 250% tax devolution gone up,
22:06and grant-in-aid gone up by 238%.
22:09So, I mean, we can use figures as we see fit
22:12to show what we want.
22:13The fact of the matter is,
22:15there is a proportional increase over time
22:18over the different commissions,
22:19depending on how each state comes
22:22and expresses its interest at the GST Council
22:24or the Finance Commission
22:25and dictates its state's needs,
22:27and then, of course, how the formulas are made.
22:30These are jointly agreed-upon principles
22:34or formulas that we all sit on at the center.
22:37When each state doesn't come and comply with it
22:39is when the issue happens,
22:41which in the case of Karnataka was happening abundantly.
22:43Allow me to quote the Karnataka figures there.
22:45Yeah, please.
22:45Because if you speak of Karnataka,
22:47which was something that was raised
22:50by one of the Congress MPs as well,
22:52where he says by this virtue
22:53we should practically be a separate state,
22:55and it caused a bit of a furor.
22:57Mr. D.K. Shipkumar's brother had said it.
22:59And he quoted the figure
23:01that Karnataka contributes 4.43 lakh crores,
23:05receives only 50,857 crores.
23:08How do you justify that?
23:10Well, see, the Finance Commission,
23:13in fact, for the 16th Finance Commission,
23:15it's gone up a whole percentage point,
23:16and we've got an extra 7,000 crores.
23:18We've got additional,
23:20thanks to the GST collection point
23:22when put into the formula now,
23:24we have an additional amount
23:26that's coming to Karnataka.
23:27He is conveniently adding up
23:29both the state GST and the central GST,
23:32and adding that value,
23:33and then only showing the amount that comes back
23:35in terms of the center's devolution of funds
23:37for that one year.
23:38So it's a convenient figure for him to quote.
23:41The fact remains otherwise.
23:42From a 4.3 lakh crore,
23:44is what you're adding,
23:45and you're getting back just 50,000 crore.
23:47There's a huge difference in that.
23:48I think there's some discrepancy
23:50in the figures there.
23:51But nonetheless,
23:52what we want to,
23:52over time...
23:53So political.
23:54It's not political.
23:55There has to be discrepancies in the figure.
23:57Well, we are here to talk about
23:59facts and figures, right?
24:00We cannot be talking
24:01low and loose terms.
24:08I'm saying from the relevant data
24:11that has come from the finance commissions,
24:14in fact,
24:14from the 15th finance commission
24:16to the 16th finance commission,
24:17there is a whole percentage point extra
24:19that has been added
24:20for Karnataka's share of the funds
24:22that come from the center,
24:23resulting in over 7,000 crores
24:25extra coming to Karnataka.
24:26So our voice is being heard.
24:28And again,
24:29center state is a negotiation.
24:31It isn't a demand
24:32that the state goes and puts.
24:33It's a negotiation
24:34and we have to continue
24:35to negotiate with the center.
24:37We cannot just be,
24:39you know,
24:39absent
24:40when the Niti Aayog meets,
24:42when the finance commission meets,
24:44when the GST council meets
24:46and fail to express our views.
24:47Our seat at the table
24:48is specifically for that,
24:50not because we are complying,
24:52but because we want to raise our concerns
24:54or our opposition to a certain thing.
24:55When a state fails to do that,
24:57and that's what we are coming down to here,
24:59rather than the numbers,
25:00that is when the process is failing.
25:02So I think that is what
25:03we should be highlighting
25:04rather than the facts
25:05and the figures here,
25:06which I think each of us
25:08can turn to convenient numbers
25:11to show our political interest
25:12going forward.
25:13That I agree
25:14because numbers can be represented
25:16whichever way.
25:16Mr. Reddy, yes.
25:17Duwayne, you wanted to come in.
25:18Yeah.
25:19As far as finance commissions
25:21are concerned,
25:22since independence,
25:23they have been evolving.
25:24So let us give them
25:25the due credit and share.
25:27But having said that,
25:29what BRS party
25:30has been advocating
25:31from day one
25:32is when you constitute
25:34the finance commission,
25:35the terms of reference
25:37is decided
25:38by the union cabinet.
25:40Before you decide
25:41the terms of reference
25:42to the finance commission,
25:43we were demanding
25:45you call for an all-party meet.
25:46That way all the concerns,
25:49the regions,
25:49everything is told
25:51before the cabinet
25:52and could be part
25:53of the terms of reference
25:54to look into it.
25:55But what's happening now
25:57is the commission
25:59towards the states
26:00and they take the inputs
26:01and try to come
26:02to some conclusion.
26:03It would be better
26:04if the terms of reference
26:05take up all these
26:07and incorporate it
26:08so that it is
26:09much better targeted.
26:11Having said that,
26:13and like you said,
26:13the right figures
26:14like South contributes 32%
26:18and we get back 18%,
26:20we constitute 24%
26:22in Parliament.
26:22So these are figures
26:24we respect
26:24and we have no complaints
26:25on that.
26:26What we want to get
26:27is our due share.
26:29For example,
26:30the various initiatives
26:31taken by the government.
26:33Today,
26:34I'll just quote
26:34a small example
26:35of how the South
26:36and North issues
26:39glaring up.
26:40Say the fab industry,
26:43the semiconductor policy.
26:45Now,
26:45Government of India
26:46started the semiconductor policy.
26:48You have put everything
26:49in one state.
26:50Most of it
26:51in one state.
26:52So the question is,
26:54for a cooperative
26:55or a fiscal federalism,
26:57there was an opportunity
26:58in this.
26:59This is a huge money.
27:00It's over
27:01one and a half lakh crores
27:02which is being pumped into.
27:03Now,
27:04just because
27:05Modi ji hai,
27:07toh,
27:07Gujarat gets it.
27:09Yogi ji hai,
27:10toh,
27:11UP gets it.
27:12Koi ji jihan hai,
27:14toh,
27:14bad mein jai.
27:15Kia South,
27:16entire South,
27:17Preeti,
27:18you'll be shocked,
27:19as almost 80%
27:21of the R&D
27:24and the chip engineers,
27:26they constitute 80%
27:27and literally
27:2818,
27:2818% of the world.
27:30Why don't you,
27:31you know,
27:31decentralize that?
27:33You do the design
27:34in Hyderabad
27:35or Bangalore,
27:36you do the manufacture
27:37in Gujarat,
27:38you do the packing
27:39in Assam
27:39and whatever is manufactured,
27:41put it in an electronic item
27:43in Chennai
27:43or UP.
27:44That's how it is distributed.
27:46So these complaints
27:47will not come.
27:48But this is lacking.
27:50This is where
27:51regional parties
27:52like ours
27:52have been fighting
27:53because we have contributed.
27:55We have contributed
27:56in both the fields.
27:57As far as agriculture,
27:58we are number one
27:59contributors
27:59to the
28:02food security
28:03and in terms
28:04of the electronics,
28:06in terms
28:07of the software
28:09exports,
28:09we are almost
28:10number one
28:10in the country.
28:11A small state
28:12in 10 years
28:13could achieve it.
28:14So why not
28:15government of India
28:16look into all
28:16these aspects?
28:17Would you want
28:18to come in
28:18on this?
28:19Because some
28:20regional parties
28:21as Ms. Mitha
28:22will also
28:22can
28:23do
28:23the