#LIVE: "Lessons from the South in the India Story" - @CNNnews18 Town Hall நிகழ்வில் பங்கேற்றுச் சிறப்புரை: https://t.co/7S9rqn8utZ

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin delivered the keynote address at the CNN-News18 Town Hall in Chennai, centered on the theme 'Lessons from the South in the India Story'. Addressing national journalists, policy analysts, and industry leaders, Stalin articulated how southern states, led by Tamil Nadu's visionary Dravidian Model, have successfully harmonized robust industrialization, fiscal discipline, and progressive social justice to outperform national developmental indices.

Stalin explained that the southern development paradigm was not an accidental occurrence, but the result of decades of persistent grassroots social reform movements that dismantled feudal structures, expanded educational access through reservations, and empowered women. He emphasized that the Union Government must recognize southern states not merely as revenue generators for the national exchequer, but as pioneering policy laboratories whose successful models—such as the midday meal, healthcare decentralization, and industrial diversification—have enriched India's federal fabric.

Concluding his address, Stalin asserted that national progress cannot be achieved through excessive centralization or linguistic and cultural homogenization. He emphasized that embracing federalism, respecting regional linguistic identities, and fostering democratic decentralization are the indispensable lessons India must assimilate from the south.