The Kerala Brahmana Sabha (KBS), which represents the sizeable Tamil Brahmin population in the State, is planning an agitation to press for minority status for the State’s Tamil Brahmins.
The KBS is in consultations with Gujarat’s Patel quota stir leader Hardik Patel to firm up the agitation plan.
A two-day State conference of the KBS in Palakkad from October 3 will formally endorse the demand for minority status.
KBS vice-president and managing director of the Kerala State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC) Karimpuzha Raman told The Hindu that his organisation was in touch with Mr. Patel. He has agreed to take part in a KBS convention in this regard, which would be held in Thiruvananthapuram early November, he added.
Mr. Raman claimed that his organisation was not against reservation benefits going to any other community.
“We just want our own share. Our numbers are dwindling and the community is in dire straits. The government must give reservation benefits at the entry level to all who are eligible. But extending the same privilege again and again to one set of people and denying the same to another is a matter of worry,” he said.
He added that the Tamil Brahmins welcomed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s contention that reservations had been used for political ends. “We endorse his demand for setting up an apolitical committee to examine who really needs reservation and for how long,” Mr. Raman said.
The KBS would be the second upper caste forum to up the ante for minority status this fortnight.
Earlier, Yogakshema Sabha, the forum of Kerala’s Namboodiri Brahmins, had aired the same demand.
It was categorical that minority status should be calculated State-wise and not on the basis of a national-level assessment.
