NaMo Lakshmi to Amma Canteen—the schemes that saved DMK's ‘Ungaludan Stalin' in Supreme Court

The Print

2 days ago

The top court on Wednesday set aside the high court's 31 July interim order restricting the state government from launching any welfare schemes in the name of any living personalities, and from using party insignia in such schemes. The Supreme Court said it was a common practice and that political battles should not be fought in courts.
At the centre of the controversy was the implementation and publicity of the Tamil Nadu government's 'Ungaludan Stalin' (With You, Stalin) scheme launched in July. AIADMK MP C.Ve. Shanmugam approached the Madras High Court, objecting to the fact that the scheme was named after the incumbent chief minister, M.K. Stalin, and was being advertised with pictures of the DMK's party symbol.
New Delhi: At least six welfare schemes are named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, two after former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, and 29 are either named after former Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa or advertised with her photograph. These schemes, listed in an application filed by Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK, prompted the Supreme Court to rule in the state government's favour Wednesday, giving the party a shot in the arm ahead of next year's assembly elections.
The DMK had approached the Supreme Court challenging the high court order in an application filed on 5 August. It submitted almost three dozen such examples, at both the central and state levels, of government schemes named after political leaders, or their photos being used to advertise schemes.
They included the 'NaMo Lakshmi Scheme', the 'NaMo Saraswati Yojana', 'NaMo E-tab', 'NaMo Lakshmi Scheme', and 'Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana'. The DMK argued that several of these union government schemes have been named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's political moniker 'NaMo'. It also attached photographs of 'Modi Ki Guarantee' advertisements.
In another affidavit filed in the Madras High Court on 3 August, the DMK said that the AIADMK was in alliance with the BJP as a part of the NDA, and that 'the BJP Party has spent several thousand crores on advertisements of Union Government schemes, particularly projecting the name and photos of the incumbent Prime Minister'.
'From Covid vaccination certificates to railway tickets, the photographs and name of the incumbent PM are printed,' it said.
The affidavit added that the union government has launched a scheme called 'Bharatiya Jan Pariyojana', which abbreviates to BJP. 'This scheme's colours are saffron and green, reflecting the colors of the ruling party,' it said.
'Political battles'
In its application before the Supreme Court, the DMK had also listed down various schemes announced by AIADMK during Jayalalithaa's time in the name of Amma, under various government orders.
They included 'Amma Canteen', 'Amma Mineral Water Plant', 'Amma Baby Care Kit', 'Amma Cement Supply Scheme', 'Amma Seeds', 'Amma Call Centre', 'Amma Parks', 'Amma Bio-Fertilizers', 'Amma Salt', and 'Amma Laptop'.
The application also listed the 'Jagananna Vidya Deevena' and 'Jagananna Amma Vodi' schemes, named after Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.
The Supreme Court sided with the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday and noted how common it is for schemes to be floated in the name of political party leaders.
'The naming of schemes in the name of political leaders is a phenomenon which is followed across the country. When such schemes are floated in the name of all leaders of political parties, we do not appreciate the anxiety of the petitioner to choose only one political party and one political leader,' the bench comprising Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice N.V. Anjaria observed, while setting aside the Madras High Court order.
The Supreme Court noted that the lawmaker rushed to the HC within three days of making a representation to the Election Commission of India (ECI), instead of waiting for a response and that he made sweeping, unsubstantiated allegations against the ECI, which, the SC said, were misconceived.
The apex court reiterated that 'political battles should be settled before the electoral roll and courts should not be used for this'. It imposed costs of Rs 10 lakh on Shanmugam.
'At the cost of public funds'
In his petition before the high court, Shanmugam had asserted that the latest scheme, named after Stalin, was just a rebranding of the 'Assured Maximum Service to Marginal People in All Villages' scheme launched by Tamil Nadu in 2013.
'The present scheme Ungaludan Stalin is substantially identical in structure and purpose, and is definitely not a new scheme introduced by the State government. At best it is a rebranding and renaming of an earlier scheme in order to portray a false picture as though it is the brainchild of the present Hon'ble Chief Minister, whose name the scheme carries,' the petition asserted.
He told the high court that renaming the scheme after a political figure in an election year is 'clearly an attempt to garner personal publicity for a politician and his political party at the cost of public funds'.
Shanmugam asserted that this was a direct use of party insignia in state-funded publicity, which, it said, was prohibited through judicial and electoral guidelines.
The Madras High Court passed an interim order on this petition on 31 July, observing, 'Therefore, we are inclined to pass an interim order to the effect that while launching and operating government welfare schemes through various advertisements, the name of any living personality, photograph of any former Chief Minister/ideological leaders or party insignia/emblem/flag of respondent No.4 (DMK) shall not be included,' the high court had ordered.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: Two realities of NEP: Sensory classrooms & hi-tech labs, to kids sitting on floor & no teachers