Former MP seeks President’s help in Puducherry getting Statehood

M. Ramadass urges President Droupadi Murmu to advise Govt. of India to confer Statehood to Puducherry. 14 resolutions passed since 1987, Standing Committee on Home Affairs recommended Statehood with special status. Statehood would enhance political stature, provide autonomy & accountability, improve financial position & access to central devolution of revenue. Constitutional lapses such as failure to hold local body elections & non-implementation of Right to Education Act also flagged.

Former Member of Parliament M. Ramadass has urged President Droupadi Murmu, who is visiting Puducherry this week, to advise the Government of India to confer Statehood to the Union Territory without further delay.

In a letter to the President, he said the people of Puducherry would be obliged if the President, as the virtual administrator of the territory, seized the opportunity of the two-day visit on August 7 and 8 to offer “durable solutions to the contemporary issues of democracy of the Union Territory of Puducherry”.

Hailing the President’s visit to Puducherry, the land of learning and wisdom and graced by the lives of sages and seers, Aurobindo, Mahakavi Bharathiar and Bharathidasan, Mr. Ramadass pointed out that at the time of the merger with the Indian Union in 1954 – after earning liberation from 138 years of French rule – Puducherry was a State with a representative Assembly consisting of 39 members and Municipalities with 200 members.

Puducherry remained a State between 1954 and 1963 when it was demoted as an Union Territory under the Union Territory Act, 1963. This territory, with a legislature of 30 members, is administered by the President through the Lt. Governor. The Chief Minister and his Cabinet aids and advises the Lt. Governor but has no authority for decision making.

While the status of Union Territory was accorded to Puducherry by an order in 1963, it was underdeveloped in every sense and the Union government had to support it financially and economically. Over the years, it has made remarkable progress, justifying the enhancement of its political status pari passu as a full-fledged State, Mr. Ramadass said.

The Legislative Assembly, as the voice of the people, has so far passed 14 resolutions since the first one in 1987 and the latest one on March 31, 2023 requesting the Centre to confer Statehood on Puducherry, he said.

While a full-fledged State symbolises a sacred democratic value system encompassing political, economic, social, and cultural freedom of the people, a Union Territory with a legislature depicts a deficit in democracy, restricting rights of the people and their representatives, Mr. Ramadass said.