The State government must recognise six sub-sects in Scheduled Castes under a common name, Devendra Kula Vellalars, said Puthiya Tamilagam leader K. Krishnasamy.
“We have been fighting for this demand to uphold the caste honour for several years but the governments headed by the two Dravidian parties continue to turn a deaf ear to it,” he said, addressing a demonstration here on Saturday.
He said that Pallar, Kurumbar, Pannaadi, Kaladi, Kadayan and Devendra Kulathan, the six sub-sects in Scheduled Caste, could have a common name as Devendra Kula Vellalars so that the “suppressed people can redeem their caste honour.”
The party had been fighting for the status for more than two decades but both the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which were in power in the State, failed to concede the demand after making tall promises, he said.
This was one of the major demands when the party entered into an alliance with the AIADMK in the 2011 Assembly polls but Jayalalithaa, after winning the elections, ignored the demand, he said.
Stating that the government would have no difficulty in recognising the sub-sects under a common name through a gazette notification, Dr. Krishnasamy recalled that the late Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran had accorded recognition under a common name to the sub-sects of Vanniyar and Nadar communities.
After announcing a six-phase agitation in July, the party had staged the first phase of the protest in Madurai and the second in Ramanathapuram, he said adding that the party would soon decide and announce other phases of agitations. District secretaries Babu, Pakiaraj, Kathiresan and Sagubar Ali were among others who took part in the stir.
