V Narayanasamy, the Chief Minister of ‘Puducherry’ has landed himself in the soup yet again in an attempt to showcase his funny bone in a seminar. At a workshop on ‘Challenges to India’s Fiscal Federalism’, Naraynasamy lashed out at the Centre with a distasteful and immature metaphor.
Irked over the Centre’s alleged differential treatment of Puducherry, Narayanasamy said the Centre might as well declare Puducherry a ‘transgender’.
“When it comes to centrally sponsored schemes and GST collection, the Centre treats us like a state, but for the implementation of other schemes, it treats us like a Union territory. It might as well declare Puducherry a transgender,” he said.
Narayanasamy has repeatedly demanded statehood for Puducherry. In July, the Centre said it had rejected a proposal to grant statehood. He is therefore visibly frustrated, as his ego of being the Chief Minister of a ‘state’ is not being fulfilled, despite rigorous requests and theatrics by him. There is a high voltage power tussle between the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, Kiran Bedi and Narayananasamy. The latter is keen to have absolute power over the Union Territory, which is among three such UT’s having their own legislature- Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir and Puducherry. Post the Supreme Court verdict in the case of the power tussle between Kejriwal and Delhi LG, Narayananasamy had claimed victory for Puducherry as well, saying the verdict was totally applicable there too.
Narayanasamy also accused the Centre of continuously ignoring Puducherry’s (read: his own) demand for including it under the ambit of the 15th finance commission. “If Jammu and Kashmir (the newly formed Union territory with a legislature) can be included under the 15th finance commission, why not Puducherry?” he said. He said giving statehood to Puducherry was the only solution. “On one hand, the Union government is ignoring us and on the other, we face administrative bottlenecks,” he said.
V Narayanasamy is suffering from what every partial ruler suffers- an existential crisis. Without autonomy to rule the union territory of Puducherry according to his whims and fancies, he has turned into a senile and frustrated man, making illogically disrespectful statements. Not only is his statement an attempt to disrespect the transgender community, but it is also a reminder as to how he must be ruling the Union Territory and its transgender population. The media, which is otherwise very prompt to run down such statements, has sealed its lips on this issue.