Dalit Unions In Tamil Nadu Come Together In A Fight Against Dravidian Party Rule

The Federation of SC/ST organisations held a mega public meeting in Chennai, which saw a participation of over 500 people from the different SC/ST communities.

Written By Varshini Ramu

In a public meeting organised in Chennai on account of Rettaimalai Seenivasan’s birthday celebrations, Dalit people from several parts of the state participated and expressed their concerns.

The Federation of SC/ST organisations on Saturday evening organised a mega public meeting at YMCA ground in Chennai, which saw a participation of over 500 people from the different SC/ST communities. The scores of participants had arrived from several parts of states like Thiruvannamalai, Villuparam, Salem, Vellore, etc.  Every year his birthday is celebrated in Tamil Nadu by Dalit outfits in several ways.

The event was a part of the birthday celebrations of the Paraiyar icon Rettaimalai Seenivasan, a three-time MLA and one of the pioneers in leading Dalit activism in Tamil Nadu. Considered a dear friend of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr BR Ambedkar,  Seenivasan participated in Round Table Conference and Poona Pact.

Amidst heavy rains in Chennai on Saturday evening, people belonging to the ‘Kurumba’ community from Thiruvannamalai gathered in large numbers to perform their traditional dance and prayer methods to entertain the audience and to showcase their culture.

The Kurumba community has been fighting to be brought under the ST category for many years now. According to the people who attended the event, the meeting’s main agenda was to ensure the people belonging to the SC and ST are entitled to all the rights and reservations they feel they deserve.

One of the people belonging to the community stated, “Our people have been living in the dark since ages. The Dravidian parties who have been ruling the state for more than 50 years have betrayed us. They have done us injustice and they cannot get away with it. We need answers and our people need justice. Most of us are still not aware of what the Constitution can provide us versus what the governments promise us. We are putting all efforts to enlighten our communities to fight for what we deserve”.

Apart from this, an eight point demand list was also put out as resolutions in the meeting, which included increasing the reservation of SC and ST people from years 18+1 to 23+2 according to the current population rate of our country.

They also demanded that the people who forge to get a fake SC/ST caste certificate and enroll themselves in government jobs in local bodies and government institutions have to be punished for criminal offense.

Furthermore, the meeting pressed on the fact that an important poll promises by the DMK government in retrieving the lands to the tribal communities must be immediately fulfilled. They also demanded that people from the SC and ST have to be given preference in the 14,000 government jobs that are still lying vacant.

While speaking to Republic, M Saraswati, the organizer of the event and the Chairperson of the Federation of the SC and ST organisations stated, “The SC and ST people have still not got their rights including their basic rights. They should get to exercise all their rights like us. The people should know what they deserve, and this is an explanatory public meeting. They don’t even know their central and state governments’ schemes. Even for their education development, their SC and ST certificate holds great importance. But procuring that from the government itself is a big struggle.”

She further added, “Some of them here have been living in a cemetery for the past one month and the government does not even care about it. The government should ask why they have been living there? But no, they did not. If that is the case, then it is clear that the government only thinks politically about the SC or ST. The people and their sufferings keep increasing every day.”

Courtesy : Republic World

Note: This news piece was originally published in republicworld.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Right