The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) will soon evolve a strategy to adopt the political doctrine of ‘social engineering’, which Uttar Pradesh Dalit leader Mayawati implemented successfully, to make a dent in the bipolar politics of Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu, party leader S. Ramadoss said here on Tuesday.
“Dismayed at the flippant attitude of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in turning Tamil Nadu into a State with no power, no jobs and a land of freebies, many caste groups and communities have started approaching us to take up the task of working out a consolidation on the lines of a third front,” Dr. Ramadoss told The Hindu .
The PMK would usher in a balancing act in the State, where the two Dravidian parties had been calling the shots in electoral politics. All other outfits had no other alternative but to align with them by compromising on their ideologies.
Dr. Ramadoss said that the UP model of ‘social engineering’, with some “additions and deletions,” to make it suitable for Tamil Nadu, would be put to test. All caste groups and communities should be encouraged to join. “It has become inherently necessary especially after Dravidian ideology and the parties that harp on it have failed in Tamil Nadu.”
These parties could not eradicate caste in Tamil Nadu and instead are promoting a few caste groups slyly for their political mileage, he said.
Accusing DMK president M. Karunanidhi of misguiding Tamils all along in the name of Dravidian ideology, he said that people should not be misled by his campaign.
“The redundancy of the Dravidian principle and its dilution are apparently visible against the context of today’s rising regional chauvinism. Instead of advocating ‘Tamiliyam’ (Tamil nationalism), Mr. Karunanidhi clings on to his Dravidian myth that had failed Tamils.”
Accusing a “senior Dravidian leader” of prompting the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi to blame the PMK for the Dharmapuri caste violence, Dr. Ramadoss said that VCK leader Thol Tirumavalavan had some compulsions to level charges against the PMK and the Vanniyar Sangam.
“PMK and Vanniyar Sangam have no role in it. We, in fact, oppose “forced love marriages” among adolescent youth, which a few VCK men in districts have been promoting. PMK has never opposed Dalit emancipation.”
He criticised the AIADMK Government for the power cuts that had crippled the State. “Not even one additional unit of power has been added till date.” He demanded that the State Advised Price for sugarcane be raised to Rs. 3000 a tonne.
