CHENNAI: Puthiya Tamilagam’s decision to contest from the reserved parliamentary constituency of Tenkasi has raised eyebrows as the party has long fought to have the Devendra Kula Vellalar community that it represents removed from the list of Scheduled Castes.
The Dr K Krishnasamy-led party, which is part of the AIADMK alliance, was allotted Tenkasi in the seat-sharing arrangement. However the party has led several major protests to have the Devendra Kula Vellalar community (known as Pallars) removed from the SC category and put in the Backward Classes category. Even as recently as November 15, 2018, thousands of PT cadre under Krishnasamy’s leadership marched towards the British Deputy High Commission in Chennai where they handed over a petition to authorities.
The petition stated that their community had been wrongly included in the SC list in 1936, under the British Raj. This inclusion had resulted in members of the community being treated as untouchable and caused them to lose social status, it claimed.
In this context, its willingness to contest from a constituency reserved for SC candidates has raised questions. However, Krishnaswamy told Express that the party had agreed to fight from the constituency on the basis of winnability. “In the election battle, winnability is the first priority. We have nurtured the Tenkasi constituency for the last two decades. Further, there is a significant number of people from our community in the constituency,” he said, explaining the decision. “At the same time, we will raise our voice in the Parliament to remove the community from the SC list with the mandate of Tenkasi voters” he said.
This explanation has not cut much ice with observers. “An SC candidate contesting from a reserved constituency will not invite any legal dispute. At the same time, it will go against the principles of the Puthiya Tamilagam, which has asked for the community to be removed from the SC list,” said S K Tamilarasan, former MLA and president of Republic Party of India.Others point to the success of Dalit candidates in non-reserved seats in the past to question the ‘winnability’ argument.