Government cannot give Exclusive Reservation to Vanniyar Community: Karunanidhi

Wed, 2010-04-28 01:23 — editor

Sathyalaya Ramakrishnan reporting from Chennai

Chennai, 28 April, (Asiantribune.com):

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today turned down the Pattali Makkal Katchi's (PMK) plea for exclusive reservation for the Vanniyar Community, which enjoyed the status of Most Backward Class (MBCs) in the state.

The Chief Minister was reacting to Mr T Velmurugan, who urged that the government must provide exclusive reservation for Vanniyar community after introducing compartmental reservation system in the state.

Mr Velmurugan contended that there were as many as 108 castes, which came under the MBC category and the Vanniyars could not benefit much by the 20 per cent reservation for MBCs in the state.

Intervening the debate, Mr Karunanidhi said there may be 108 castes in the MBC category, but not all the castes had the size of the population of Vanniyar community.

He said some of the castes, which were included in the list of MBC, had a total population of just 1000. It would be wrong to state the inclusion of these castes in the list of MBC had cut into the quota for the Vanniyars.

The Chief Minister said he could assert that after the exclusive 20 percent reservation for MBCs the Vanniyars were benefitting much. This was evident as more Vanniyar students got admission to professional courses.

Agreeing to this, Mr Velmurugan said there could be no doubt that more students were being benefited after the introduction of 20 per cent quota. That was why the PMK had honored the Chief Minister, hailing him as the protector of social justice. However, forward class people from neighboring districts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala who migrated to Tamil Nadu had obtained MBC status, cutting into Vanniyars' quota, the PMK leader said.

He suggested that the government must take a caste-based survey and introduce compartmental reservation in proportion to the size of population of different castes.

Rejecting the suggestion, the Chief Minister said even after introducing the system, the member could not give a guarantee that people from the neighboring districts would not come and settle in the state.

He said if there was any lacuna or problem in the existing system of reservation, the government would not hesitate to remove them.

- Asian Tribune -

Courtesy_

http://www.asiantribune.com

Vanniyar Federation supports AIADMK

Vanniyar Federation C N Ramamurthy support to back AIADMK

The Vanniyar Federation president C N Ramamurthy said here on Wednesday that they would support the AIADMK in forthcoming Assembly elections, even if the latter did not give them any seat to contest.

He said the chief minister had signed a pact with him in 1989 and assured to fulfil the demand for separate quota for Vanniyars, after 18 people lost their lives in an agitation for the same. “I was Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) general secretary at that time. Karunanidhi offered 20 per cent quota for 109 castes, including Vanniyars and considered them as Most Backward Classes. Since that was a big injustice, I filed a suit in the High Court seeking 15 per cent exclusive quota for Vanniyars within the MBC. Till date, the government has not responded in the High Court,” he rued.

“When 69 per cent quota for Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes was under threat, former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa passed a resolution in the Assembly and also forced the Centre to amend the Constitution and include the quota under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution. Karunanidhi has not taken similar steps to protect the quota,” he alleged.

“Both Karunanidhi and PMK president Ramadoss have not helped Vanniyars. So we have decided to support Jayalalithaa,” he said.

Courtesy_

http://hindia.in