Stalin hails Opposition after Delimitation Bill defeat, calls it ‘turning point’

Lauding Opposition MPs for defeating the Delimitation Bill in Parliament, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday (April 18) credited them for the “victory”, adding that the bill has revealed who are the friends of the stare and who are the traitors.

"This Delimitation Bill has not only revealed who our friends are. It has also exposed who the traitors of Tamil Nadu are. The betrayal has already suffered a crushing defeat even before the next election," he said in an apparent reference to BJP. The chief minister also thanked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge for their firm stand on the issue.

Dubs delimitation bill as ‘black law’

The remarks come a day after the Constitution Amendment Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 was defeated in Lok Sabha on Friday.

The Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were also introduced in the Lok Sabha at the same time. However, after the Constitution Amendment Bill failed to pass due to lack of a two-thirds majority, the government withdrew the other two bills.

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"I stand before you today in full of joy and renewed energy. Our struggle against the Delimitation Bill, the black law, has been successful. More than a year ago, we foresaw this danger, and from that very moment we began all the work necessary to achieve this victory,” said Stalin in a video message.

Lauds Opposition unity

Framing the proposed legislation as a political manoeuvre, Stalin said the bill, brought “under the mask of constituency delimitation”, had been decisively turned back in Parliament. He credited MPs from across opposition ranks, including those aligned with the INDIA bloc, for closing ranks against what he described as a measure tailored to serve the BJP.

“The BJP tried to introduce this law under the disguise of women’s reservation. But it was the women themselves who led the resistance and was successfully defeated. I salute them,” he added, casting the outcome as both political and symbolic.

‘A turning point’

He went on to sharpen the attack, saying, “Those who wanted to divide us between North and South, and pit us against each other, have now received a powerful and firm slap on the face.” In the same breath, he pointed to the scale of the setback for the Centre: “For the first time in 12 years, Prime Minister Modi’s government has suffered the defeat of a constitutional amendment bill.”

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Positioning the episode as a turning point, the DMK chief said, “This is only the beginning. This is the beginning of the defeats that the BJP will face across the country. This is the beginning of the unity of opposition parties. I have been saying again and again that if we stand united, our victory is certain”.

Invoking the party’s past, he added, “I had warned that we might have to see the old DMK of the 1950s and 60s again. I have clearly shown them today. Look, this is what the DMK is,” suggesting a return to an earlier, more combative political posture.

At the same time, Stalin signalled that the battle was not over. “What we have achieved today is only half a victory. Just as it was done in 2001, the delimitation of seat numbers must be suspended constitutionally for the next 25 years, that is until 2051,” he said, outlining what he sees as the next step.

Eyes on 2026 elections

His remarks then turned to the coming electoral contest. “Let our victories continue and multiply and to the BJP, which tried to turn the people of Tamil Nadu into refugees in their own country, and to their slave agents, the AIADMK, we will give such a huge and unforgettable defeat in the 2026 Assembly elections that they will never be able to forget it,” he said.

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Stalin also acknowledged the intervention of Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who argued during the debate that the two issues had been improperly linked.

“This is an anti-national law. We will not allow it. We will defeat it together,” Rahul said.