How can you have cordial ties with BJP, VCK chief asks PMK

‘National party has long opposed reservation for OBCs’

October 22, 2021 01:08 am | Updated 01:08 am IST - COIMBATORE

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU,05/03/2021: Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol. Thirumavalavan at an interview `The Hindu' in Chennai on Friday. Photo: VEDHAN M / THE HINDU

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU,05/03/2021: Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol. Thirumavalavan at an interview `The Hindu' in Chennai on Friday. Photo: VEDHAN M / THE HINDU

VCK leader Thol. Thirumavalavan has criticised PMK founder S. Ramadoss for being friendly towards the BJP that has a history of opposing reservation for the OBCs while painting the VCK, which has long supported quota for the OBCs, as its political enemy.

Speaking at a conference in Cuddalore by his party on Wednesday night, he said the OBCs and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes should be called “social justice communities”. He said the RSS was inducting non-Brahmins but was implementing “social order” through them.

He asked why Dr. Ramadoss was not raising the issue of lack of representation for OBCs in the judiciary. “Even today, the judges in the Supreme Court are Brahmins. How did this happen? Shouldn’t leaders like Dr. Ramadoss be speaking against it? He should be asking why people from my community are unable to become Supreme Court judges... How many High Court judges are non-Brahmins?” he asked.

He said Dr. Ramadoss could have become one of the most influential Bahujan leaders but he decided to confine himself to a smaller identity. “I would like to ask him and others who claim to be the saviours of the OBCs, ‘Which party protested violently against the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations?’ Who is your enemy? Is it the BJP that opposed the Mandal Commission’s report or the VCK that welcomed it?” he asked.

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