Overview
- Kerala’s ruling LDF held a day-long protest at the Martyrs’ Column in Thiruvananthapuram led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over what it calls the Centre’s financial discrimination.
- Vijayan said the Centre denied ₹5,900 crore from a ₹12,000 crore borrowing window for January–March and curtailed borrowing space by about ₹17,000 crore this fiscal.
- The state presented ₹5,783.69 crore as pending dues under centrally sponsored schemes and cited ₹965 crore in withheld IGST, while also flagging unresolved loan permissions of roughly ₹3,300–₹6,000 crore linked to guarantees and highway land acquisition.
- Kerala leaders referred to a December 17 directive restricting borrowing and argued the state’s tax devolution declined under the 15th Finance Commission, invoking a public remark by NITI Aayog CEO B. V. R. Subrahmanyam.
- The Centre countered through Amit Shah’s claim that Kerala received about ₹3.23 lakh crore in 2014–24, as BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar cited CAG observations on stalled schemes and rising debt, and the Congress-led UDF refused to join the protest.