Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday declared on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that the DMK Government would continue to refer to the Government of India as “Union Government” instead of “Central Government”.
“We have used this term earlier and we will continue to use it...There is no need to treat the usage of the term ‘union’ as a ‘social crime’ because some were taking it in that sense. It [such a notion] is totally wrong. We are using only what is in the Constitution, which elucidates, ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States’,” Stalin explained.
Ever since he took over as Chief Minister last month, Stalin, his ministers and party leaders have been using the term “Union Government” while referring to the Centre.
On Wednesday, BJP floor leader in the Assembly Nainar Nagendran questioned if there was any motive behind using the term “Union” instead of “Centre”.
Responding to him, Stalin said, there was no need to fear the term “Union”. Even C Rajagopalachari, the last Governor General of India had spoken against concentration of power, the Chief Minister said. “Some are accusing us of using a term not used by our leaders Anna [DMK founding leader C N Annadurai] and Kalaignar [former Chief Minister Karunanidhi]. But the DMK in its election manifesto of 1957 had used the term ‘Indian Union’,” he pointed out.
