Speech....!

 Former CM Of Odisha speech.

Addressed the Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation convened by Tamil Nadu CM Shri @mkstalin ji. This is an important meeting to ensure democratic representation and rights of people living in States that have done very well to control and stabilise population.

Population control is an important national agenda for development of our country. A national agenda was decentralised into State interventions and throughout the years the Union Government gave high priority towards this. States also took their own initiatives and joined in successfully implementing this national agenda and the States of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, West Bengal, Punjab and Odisha have been very successful in this regard. 

In case these states had not achieved what they did in stabilising population, India would have had a population explosion today derailing our developmental progress. While this has been our contribution towards a positive national agenda, towards building a strong India, delimitation based only on population figures will be unfair to the states who have worked hard to reduce their population growth rates in line with national priorities.

Odisha has done well, successfully reducing its fertility rates over the years. If projected population figures of 2026 are taken, we will end up losing seats in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly. States like Odisha who have reduced their population growth rates after years of persistent efforts, should not be disincentivised, especially as they have performed well on a national priority.

.@bjd_odisha will do everything to protect the interests of the people of Odisha. Hence it is our stand that population should not be the only criteria to determine number of seats in the highest representative body of our country. Secondly, I suggest the Union Government take up a detailed discussion with all the parties so as to remove any doubts on this very important issue that has far reaching implications for our democracy. BJDWithOdisha