Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi founder Thol. Thirumavalavan on Tuesday slammed the AIADMK and its allies, the BJP and the PMK, on the Vanniyar reservation issue. The AIADMK government had recently enacted a legislation providing 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyars in higher education and government jobs within the MBC quota.
In a statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan said that providing internal reservation for one particular community was nothing more than an attempt to make ‘electoral gains by moving the caste pieces’. He said that the law would be struck down if one of the aggrieved communities in the MBC category goes to court as it is not based on caste census.
“The AIADMK-BJP-PMK combine knows this truth. Despite that, they want to showcase this law to reap electoral benefits,” he charged.
According to him, this was a reflection of the BJP’s national politics of “deepening caste divisions by creating fake sentiment and affecting the unity” in the society through the AIADMK that is “under the complete control of the BJP”.
“Did non-Vanniyar communities in the MBC category ask for internal reservations? Why were they split? They have given 7% for 93 communities (25 communities such as Paravar, Meenavar, Vettuva Gounder and another 68 communities under denotified tribes) and 2.5% for 26 communities such as Isai Vellalar. By doing this, they have forced these communities to protest against the internal reservations,” he said.
Mr. Thirumavalavan said that this would affect the reservations for communities in the MBC quota including the Vanniyars.
“If reservations are about implementing social justice, internal reservation is just a micro-version of it. I don’t have another opinion on it. But it is important to understand how PMK, BJP and AIADMK view it,” said Mr. Thirumavalavan.
He recalled how Governor Banwarilal Purohit delayed granting of assent to the Bill that guaranteed 7.5% reservations for government school students in medical admissions but had consented to the internal reservations Bill in a matter of hours.
“This is an attempt to divide the MBC communities, increase the distance between them and break their unity. This has been done for electoral gains temporarily,” he charged.
Mr. Thirumavalavan asked why the PMK settled for 10.5% internal reservations based on the 1931 census after demanding 20% separate reservations.
“Why did they agree to settle for almost half of the original demand? Was their original demand based on a lie or is it all a drama to mobilise Vanniyar votes? Won’t the 9.5% Vanniyars be affected because of this?,” he said.
Mr. Thirumavalavan said that this has split the other MBC communities from the Vanniyar communities and the people will defeat the AIADMK-BJP-PMK alliance in the Assembly election.
