KALLAKURICHI: Marking the 102nd birth anniversary of veteran Dalit leader and former Member of Parliament L Ilayaperumal, MP D Ravikumar on Thursday urged the Tamil Nadu government to implement a key recommendation made by Ilayaperumal’s committee—denying funds to village panchayats where untouchability continues to persist.
Speaking at the District-Level Coordination and Monitoring Committee meeting in Kallakurichi, Ravikumar highlighted Ilayaperumal’s pivotal role in championing the rights of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. He recalled that Ilayaperumal chaired the country’s first committee formed in 1969 to study the conditions of SC/ST communities and had recommended several landmark reforms.
“One of his significant recommendations was to make temple priesthood accessible to individuals from all castes. This directly led to then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi enacting the necessary legislation in Tamil Nadu,” Ravikumar said.
He added that Ilayaperumal had also advocated for reservation for SC/STs in Panchayati Raj institutions — a vision that materialised through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment.
“Although untouchability was abolished by the Constitution in 1950, it continues in many forms across rural India, even after 75 years of Independence,” Ravikumar said. “To address this, Ilayaperumal proposed withholding financial assistance to panchayats that failed to eliminate caste-based discrimination — a policy that was already being implemented in Gujarat at the time. I appeal to Chief Minister M K Stalin to implement a similar policy in Tamil Nadu, making it a model state in enforcing social justice,” he added.