Sundari Praba Rani Prabakaran, daughter of Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran, said on Sunday that ‘Immanuel Sekaran Trust’ would organise the death anniversary of the leader from next year and urged the Tamil Nadu government to accord official status to the annual event.
In a brief interaction with reporters after paying homage to her father along with family members and relatives at his memorial here, Ms. Prabakaran, the third daughter of the late leader, said the family members and well-wishers had formed the trust and decided to conduct the event from next year.
The State government should declare the death anniversary of her father as an official event as he had laid down his life fighting for caste reforms. The government should concede to this long-pending demand and come forward to celebrate the 60th anniversary as an official event, she stressed.
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Dismissing as false and disinformation campaign the reports that the family had moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court and petitioned to the Collector to ban the death anniversary, she said her father was the leader of the entire Dalit community and could not be confined within a family circle.
The family had suffered a lot after the murder of the leader in 1957, but was well aware that he had fought for social justice and he belonged to all who believed in his principles, she said.
Though he was hailed as the leader of Devendra Kula Vellalar community, Immanuel Sekaran was a national leader, she said.
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She thanked Devendrar Panpattu Kazhagam (DPK), which had been organising the death anniversary all these years.
Reacting to Ms. Prabakaran’s remarks that the trust would organise the death anniversary from next year, DPK secretary M. Punniyamurthy said the Kazhagam had units in all villages and a decision on the issue would be taken after consulting the family members and village leaders.