India, March 5 -- Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Wednesday called for the 1971 census to be the basis of delimitation due in 2026 at an all-party meeting he had chaired in Chennai. MK Stalin alleged that the BJP-led union government paid mere lip service to Tamil language for the sake of votes and dubbed the ruling party at the Centre as Tamil's "enemy."

In the meeting, attended by almost all major parties in the state, Stalin warned that population based delimitation will reduce the Lok Sabha seats for Tamil Nadu.

"The union government, out-and-out, is functioning with a feeling of linguistic hegemony and pays mere lip service to Tamil for the sake of votes," news agency PTI quoted the chief minister.

According to the chief mi...