The members of the Central and State governments SC/ST Employees Federation have demanded the Tamil Nadu government to immediately withdraw the suspension order issued against IAS officer Uma Shankar.
At an emergency meeting convened here on Sunday, representatives from various districts participated.
S. Karuppiah, state organiser, presided over the meeting.
The members urged the government to stop ‘humiliating’ the downtrodden section under some pretext or the other, when they worked hard and proved their mettle.
An official like Mr. Uma Shankar had been primarily responsible for the cremation shed scam expose. He was then lauded by many political parties, elected representatives and other right thinking citizens. When such had been the record held by the IAS officer in his public life, pointing out baseless allegations suddenly showed only the double standards of the State government, they alleged.
With Assembly elections round the corner in Tamil Nadu, the speakers maintained that they would pledge their support only to those political parties which had promised to look into their grievances and redress them.
The meeting resolved to observe a token fast on August 7 at Virudhunagar district and also stage demonstration at taluk level in Tirunelveli district. As the next course of action, all the members including public and elected representatives from the Dalit community would stage a massive demonstration in Chennai by August end.
Among other demands, they urged the governments to fill in vacancies and also lift anomalies in extending assistance to Dalit students.
