Put pressure on Delhi to grant Statehood to U.T., says ex-MP

Passing Assembly resolutions on Statehood for Puducherry without initiating proactive means to bring pressure to bear on Delhi will not help attain the long-cherished status, former MP and founder-president of the Puducherry Maanila Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (PMMMK) M. Ramadass has said.

In a statement, Mr. Ramadass said politicians should realise that passing the 16th resolution on the demand, when some of the latest resolutions in this regard were not acted upon by the NDA government at the Centre, only served to lower the dignity of the legislature.

He contended that if the government was genuinely serious about Statehood, the Chief Minister should lead a delegation of legislators to Delhi, and put forth the demand to the Prime Minister and Home Minister.

According to Mr. Ramadass, if the issue of Statehood is raised by the Chief Minister only to divert people’s attention from the problems plaguing beleaguring the government, it only tantamounts to hypocrisy. He sought to know if the government had prepared a feasibility report or background paper to argue its case for Statehood.

Mr. Ramadass said that the demand for Statehood should not be equated with acquiring more power for the Chief Minister but for conferring autonomous economic, social, and political power on the people of Puducherry.

Statehood is needed to establish a full-fledged democracy that would liberate Puducherry and its people from a state of being at the mercy of the Centre, he said.

Pointing out that Statehood would have to be secured through committed struggle, Mr. Ramadass cited the example of the people of the tinytiny Union Territory of Ladakh rallying for Statehood on the streets that had compelled the Centre to negotiate.

Expert committee

He also called for the constitution of an expert committee to prepare a new feasibility report for Statehood.

The Chief Minister should lead a delegation of party leaders, MPs and expert committee members to hand over the report to the Prime Minister and Home Minister to push for Statehood. Simultaneously, the political leadership should enlist the support of all parties in Parliament for the cause, Mr. Ramadass said.