The Kerala government has objected to a proposal by Hibi Eden, MP, through a private members’ Bill to change the State capital from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam. Mr. Eden, a Congress MP from Ernakulam district, moved the Bill in Parliament back in March, following which the Union government sought the opinion of the State government.
The emergence of the proposal in the public sphere on Saturday kicked up a storm with even Mr. Eden’s fellow party members as well as leaders from the United Democratic Front (UDF) constituent parties taking a stand against him. The State Capital Relocation Bill, 2023 proposes to change the State capital from Thiruvananthapuram to Ernakulam, taking into consideration the geographical location, importance, and central location of the latter.
The Bill argues that it is essential to relocate the State capital to a more central location that is accessible to all, while Thiruvananthapuram, due to its southern location, has become geographically inaccessible for many residents, leading to difficulties in accessing the seat of the government.
Limitations cited
The Chief Minister, in his response to the Union government, is learnt to have rejected the demand in no uncertain terms. The government bases its arguments against the proposal mainly on the huge capital investment required for a shift in the capital. It also points at the lack of space left for further development in Ernakulam. The government also cited the location of other State capitals, including Chennai, Bengaluru and Mumbai, which are not centrally located but are functioning perfectly as capitals, to reject the demand.
General Education Minister V. Sivankutty accused the MP of having an ulterior motive in making such a proposal. He said that the financial memorandum prepared along with the Bill, in which the MP admits that the amount of money required to shift the capital is not known, shows that he did not do proper homework. No one can be blamed for suspecting this to be a move aimed at plunging Kerala into a major economic crisis.
Pushback
Although Mr. Eden’s proposal, which will have some level of acceptance in his home constituency, is being perceived as part of moves ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held next year, it has come in for sharp criticism from his own party members. Congress leader K. Mohan Kumar, a former MLA from Thiruvananthapuram district, in a statement tinged with sarcasm, said that “in a sense, the suggestion to move the head to the middle of the body is also logical”.
“The Ernakulam MP has to be lauded for finding out that Narendra Modi has plenty of time to intervene in all this. The MP, who introduced the Bill on his own in the Parliament, is putting his fellow party members in a difficult situation. What is his real intention in creating such a news, forgetting all the basic norms that a party member as well as MP has to follow? I condemn this wrong move on his part,” said Mr. Mohan Kumar in a Facebook post.
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leaders N.K. Premachandran, MP, as well as Shibu Baby John also opposed the proposal. Mr. John said that it is ideal to first discuss such proposals within the party as well as the front.
