VCK founder and Chidambaram MP Thol. Thirumavalavan on Tuesday said opposing the States’ right to sub-categorise Scheduled Caste (SC) communities should not be seen as opposing federalism.
Speaking at a protest organised here, against the Supreme Court’s verdict allowing States the right to sub-categorise SC communities and provide reservations, Mr. Thirumavalavan pointed out that Punjab had the highest population of SC communities, but they have been categorised as SCs (Sikhs) and SCs (Valmiki).
“SCs constitute around 32% of the population in Punjab. If they can mobilise, an SC person can remain as the permanent Chief Minister. But, they had split the community into two in the name of categorisation, each getting 12.5% reservation,” he said, contending that the political unity of SCs would be destroyed due to categorisation.
Recalling the decision of former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to pass a law guaranteeing an internal reservation of 10.5% for Vanniyars within the MBC quota, Mr. Thirumavalavan said State could use the power to sub-categorise communities for electoral gain. “As soon as Dr. Ramadoss sought 10.5% reservation, Mr. Palaniswami announced that a separate quota had been carved out for Vanniyars, without calling for an all-party meeting or consulting other stakeholders. Later, the proposal ran into legal trouble. Dr. Ambedkar feared giving States such a power, and had created Articles 341 and 342, which guarantee that any decision regarding SC/ST communities should be debated in Parliament, and would require the President’s assent,” he said.
Mr. Thirumavalavan reiterated that he fully supported the 3% internal reservation for Arundhathiyars within the SC quota, and called for a review of the Supreme Court verdict.
“It is important to understand the implicit problem in the verdict. Mobilising and uniting theSC and Scheduled Tribes communities is one of the dreams of Dr. Ambedkar. This is why he grouped communities under SC lists with untouchability and discrimination faced by them being the common factor,” he said, reiterating that he opposed States being given the power to categorise (to group) the communities and splitting of reservations.
“It must be debated. If we see it on the surface level, we may come to a conclusion that it is right. But, we must understand the dangers of this,” he said and opposed the observations regarding the implementation of the ‘creamy layer’ concept in SC reservations by the Supreme Court judges.
“It can affect even the children of the person who holds ordinary jobs. This is an attempt at removing reservation. The entire reservation system for SCs is in danger. We need a national perspective on this,” he said.
VCK general secretary and Villupuram MP D. Ravikumar and VCK’s floor leader Sinthanai Selvan, among others, participated.
