Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged the MPs from Kerala to raise in Parliament that the central government must discuss with states before enacting laws on subjects in the concurrent list.
Pinarayi said that the current process of avoiding discussion followed by the Centre is against the essence of federalism.
In a meeting of MPs held before the Monsoon session of the Parliament, the chief minister said that in recent times the central government enacted a number of laws in violation of the federal principles, one example of which was the farm laws, which has led to large-scale peasant protests and agitations.
He also alleged that the Centre formulated policies for centralisation and privatisation of education without considering state-level characteristics.
Referring to what is happening in Lakshadweep, he said it was a "sign of many things to come in the future" as there appears to be a move to completely sever ties with Kerala and therefore, a strong unanimous defense has to be mounted against the same.
Lakshadweep has been witnessing protests by various political parties ever since the administration started implementing reform measures in the islands.
Pinarayi said that everyone should take a position which contributes to the development of the country and requested for a concerted action by all the MPs on issues affecting the state, like the unilateral legislations by the Centre.
Another issue which he highlighted was the provisions of the Ports Bill, which, he contended, provides for the removal of the powers of the states.
He further said that since Kerala is sticking to its stand for repealing the Citizenship Amendment Act, the consequences of going ahead with the law should be raised before the central government.
He also asked the MPs to pressurise the Centre to implement the GST compensation in a timely manner, remove the terms of loan limit and grant sectoral and state specific grants.
He further said that the Centre should also be asked to simplify rules regarding expenditure of the states from the Disaster Relief Funds, implement national highway development projects in a timely manner, allow more flights for returning expatriates and announce a relief package for them.
(with inputs from PTI)
