A meeting of 38 community leaders headed by PMK founder S. Ramadoss on Sunday announced a demonstration on October 21 in support of their demand for caste-wise enumeration in the State.
“We want the government to make an announcement by October 2. If there is no response from the government, a delegation of leaders will meet Chief Minister to press the demand on October 11. If nothing happens, it will be followed by a demonstration on October 21 in Chennai,” the resolution said.
Earlier, addressing the meeting, Dr. Ramadoss said not a single day should be lost in ordering caste enumeration. He rejected the idea of separate caste enumeration, saying that it should be done along with general census.
“Separate enumeration will end up as a mere head-count and it will cost another Rs 2000 crore. It is a waste of time and money. We need socio-economic data of all communities to evaluate the status of all communities in the State. All you need is to include one more column in the census form to mention the class and the caste listed under it,” he said.
Dr. Ramadoss said Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi should have set an example by ordering caste enumeration in the State, pointing out that the Puducherry Chief Minister had already scored over Tamil Nadu in this issue. He also wanted the Chief Minister to implement compartmental reservation by taking a cue from Kerala and Karnataka.
“It could be done after completion of caste-enumeration. We already have separate reservation for Arundathiyars and Muslims. Similarly we can have separate reservation for communities depending on their population,” he said.
Tamil Nadu Yadava Mahasabai leader M. Gopalakrishnan; All India Thevar Peravai leader V. Ramakrishnan; and PMK leader G.K. Mani were present in the meeting.
