Country's federalism needs 'structural reset,' says Stalin, proposes amendment to Constitution

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday proposed an amendment to the Constitution to strengthen federalism at the Centre and state autonomy, calling for a "structural reset" of the country's federalism.

Tabling the first part of Justice Kurian Joseph committee report on Centre-state relations in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, he said federalism was about trust and autonomy.

"India's federalism needs a structural reset. If we wish, we can again amend the Constitution. Meaningful federalism is not about control, but about trust, autonomy, and governance that responds to people's realities," Stalin, the ruling DMK president, said.

In 1967, DMK founder and late Chief Minister C N Annadurai observed that the Union must indeed be strong enough to maintain the sovereignty and integrity of India.

His successor, the late M Karunanidhi, advanced this philosophy through the maxim, "Autonomy for States, and Federalism at the Centre" and in 1969 established the first independent committee on Union-State Relations under Justice P V Rajamannar, he recalled.

Stalin said the DMK follows the policy of autonomy in the states and federalism at the Centre.

States, he said, still struggled to get rights from the Centre and had to depend on the union government for everything. "How long will we be in a place where the union government gives and we receive," he asked and said the report was like "belling the cat."

"Today is the day we take the initiative to amend the Constitution to ensure that state governments are vested with all necessary powers," Stalin said.

The country would prosper only if the states developed and both were "partners" (in governance) and not "competitors". State autonomy will be the only "remedy against oppression," he contended.

Pointing out that the Indian Constitution has been amended 106 times in the last 76 years, he said, "If we wish, we can amend the Indian Constitution again."

The Justice Kurian Joseph committee on Centre-State relations, constituted on April 15, 2025, submitted its first report to the CM on February 16.

The high-level committee under the retired judge of the Supreme Court undertook a detailed examination of contemporary federal challenges and submitted "concrete and actionable" recommendations aimed at restoring the federal balance and strengthening genuine cooperative federalism within the constitutional framework.

The part I report in English and Tamil comprises ten chapters. Two more parts, comprising ten chapters each, are under preparation.

This initiative marked the fourth major national-level review of union–state relations and the second undertaken by Tamil Nadu, which earlier led the discourse through the Rajamannar Committee (1969–71).

At the national level, the Sarkaria Commission (1983–88) and the Punchhi Commission (2007–10) examined Union–State relations and made significant recommendations. "But despite this, there has been no progress," the chief minister said.

Former Vice-Chancellor of Indian Maritime University, Chennai, K Ashok Vardhan Shetty, and former Vice-Chairman of Tamil Nadu Planning Commission M Naganathan are the members of the committee.