Chandigarh, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has claimed that the Centre's proposed move on population-based delimitation of parliamentary constituencies is highly discriminatory against Punjab.
Badal asserted that his party is strongly in favour of women's reservation but firmly opposes using it as a camouflage for delimitation.
Punjab, a state with a predominantly minority character, will be the biggest victim of this delimitation exercise, he said.
While Punjab will see only a nominal increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats, Haryana will witness nearly a 100 per cent increase, almost doubling its representation in the Lower House of Parliament, he said.
By making population the sole basis of delimitation, this move punishes Punjab for successfully implementing the national agenda on population control and rewards states that have defied those goals, Badal noted.
The proposed delimitation exercise appears to be a conspiracy to hand over disproportionate control of India to just four Hindi-heartland states Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan by almost doubling their combined strength in the Lok Sabha and pushing it beyond 40 per cent of the total seats, he alleged.
This will deal a death blow to the already weakened federal structure of the country. In the interest of true federal unity and integrity, the SAD will spearhead an all-party initiative in Punjab to strongly oppose this assault on our state and on India's federal structure, Badal said.
The SAD chief said his party has full support for the Women's Reservation Bill.
