Why Stalin wants Tamilians to have '16 children'

The Lok Sabha delimitation exercise may make people think about raising "16 children", Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Monday while referring to a Tamil adage. His comments came just two days after his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu asked women to have more children to stabilize the population in his state.

Stalin, who was attending a mass marriage event in Chennai, referred to a Tamil saying pathinarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga, meaning acquire 16 different kinds of wealth and lead a prosperous life while talking about the census and delimitation process which will redraw the electoral map of India.

"The Parliament delimitation process may encourage the couples to have many children and give up thoughts of a small family. But whatever be the outcome, provide Tamil names to your children," the CM said after solemnising the marriages of 31 couples at a function held under the aegis of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department.

There is a concern among southern states that the delimitation process based on population may reduce their representation in Parliament, penalising them for successfully implementing population control measures. In February this year, the Tamil Nadu Assembly also passed a resolution opposing the delimitation process.

Stalin's comments came two days after Naidu said there was a need to manage the population in Andhra Pradesh given there will be an increase in the aging population.

"Till 2047, we will have the demographic dividend, there will be more youngsters. After 2047, there will be more old people, if less than two children are given birth (per woman), then the population will reduce. If you (each woman) give birth to more than two children, then the population will increase," Naidu said on Saturday during a public meeting in Amaravati.

Noting that the southern state's birth rate has plummeted to 1.6, he feared the continuation of the current situation could lead to a further decline of the birth rate to 1 or lower, where only "old people will be visible in the society".

Stalin said in the past, the elders used to bless newly married couples to acquire 16 kinds of wealth (pathinarum petru peru vazhvu vazhga) including fame, education, lineage, wealth, etc., and not 16 children. Gradually, people have come to believe in raising a small family for prosperity, he said.

"That blessing doesn't mean beget 16 children, now a situation has arisen where people think they should now literally raise 16 children and not a small and prosperous family," Stalin said.

Responding to Naidu's comments, senior YSRCP leader Jupudi Prabhakar Rao questioned the efficacy of the CM's 'vision' of asking people to have fewer number of children about 10 years ago and more now. "What about himself (Naidu). He has only one son and his son (Nara Lokesh) also has only one son. He is a visionary right," Rao told PTI.

Further, the opposition party leader asserted that the people of the state did not follow birth control heeding Naidu's advice, advising the CM to refrain from comparing himself to some erstwhile Chinese leader who had given such successful calls in the past.

AP Congress welcomed Naidu's call for raising the population. Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) vice president Kolanukonda Sivaji observed the CM gave such a call keeping the best interests of South India in mind.

"Because, under delimitation, Parliament seats in our region (south India) will reduce and they will get added to the northern states. That's why, to overcome this there is no time. So, when the population here increases, our seats will be with us," said Sivaji.

Saving South India's Parliament seats as the correct interpretation of Naidu's call, Sivaji noted the NDA ally did not directly drive home this message but subtly chose the plummeting birthrate ploy to avoid friction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar.