ABP Southern Rising Summit 2023: Tamil Nadu minister and DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin Thursday complained that thugh South India, particularly his state, contributes the most in terms of taxes, they receive significantly less in return from the Centre. At the ABP Network's Southern Rising Summit 2023 in Chennai, Udhayanidhi Stalin, the son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, said: "For every one rupee that Tamil Nadu gives to the central government, we receive only 29 paise in return."
He said the TN Finance Minister, Thangam Thennarasu, raised this issue in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Wednesday. "Since 2014, Tamil Nadu has contributed Rs 5 lakh crore in taxes to the Union government, but we have received just Rs 2 lakh crore in return."
Citing the example of Uttar Pradesh, Udhayanidhi said: "In BJP-ruled states, for example, Uttar Pradesh, which paid Rs 2 lakh crore as tax in the past nine years, received Rs 9 lakh crore in return. This is outright injustice to states that performed well."
Udhayanidhi Stalin also accused the central government of misusing agencies like the ED and the CBI. He said central agencies were being used to target political opponents. He also said governors were being sent to interfere with the work of state governments. "The functioning of the Tamil Nadu governor is a case in point," he said. "NEET was another catastrophy, which was imposed on Tamil Nadu."
The DMK leader also said the Dravidian model of development is the best model, which has brought about revolutionary changes.
Raising serious questions about the upcoming delimitation exercise to be conducted in 2026. He said: "In the 1970s, the Union government promoted the population control programme. The South Indian states implemented the programme effectively, while other states did not. Today, it is being used against the Southern states. A conspiracy is being hatched to penalize the Southern states for doing good work through the Census."
He concluded: "I am hopeful that most political parties that are fighting for the state rights will oppose this move. Every right-thinking citizen will confront this move. And, I can guarantee you that DMK will be at the forefront of this people's movement."