KASARGOD: Resentment is growing among the Thiyya community of Malabar as the government has made the Thiyyas as a sub-caste of the Ezhavas of Southern Kerala and also against the ‘forcible conversion of Thiyyas into Ezhavas’.
The recently formed Global Thiyya Initiate (GTI), and the Thiyya Mahasabha are up in arms against the government for obliterating the generic term ‘Thiyya’ from official records.
The Thiyyas have to write ‘Ezhava’ in applications for jobs and for entrance examination to higher institutions. Those writing ‘Thiyya’ is not eligible for any benefit under the communal reservation system.
“Our efforts are to get the Thiyyas delinked from the Ezhavas as these two communities are not homogeneous. British anthropological studies had proved that Thiyyas have been superior to the Ezhavas, said M C Sadanandan, vice-president of the Thiyya Mahasabha.
The OBC list published by the Central OBC Commissioner had categorically stated that the Thiyyas of Malabar and the Ezhavas of Travancore are different entities, he said.
Sadanandan said that the replies given by the various department under the RT Act clearly stated that Thiyyas are not eligible for reservation if they wrote as ‘Thiyya’ in the applications.
The reply from the Education Department says that “we will give the benefit of reservation to Thiyyas provided they write Ezhava in their applications.”
The Kerala Public Service Commission said that it would not consider Thiyyas for reservation if they do not write Ezhava in their application. Similarly, the commissioner of entrance examination said that the Thiyyas come under the Ezhavas while inviting applications.
According to the public information officer of the Kozhikode Medical College, as many as 16 Ezhavas had secured admission in the medical college under the reservation quota in 2011. There was no specific bifurcation of the Thiyya candidates who got reservation in medical colleges.
Sadanandan said the Ezahvas now get 14 per cent reservation by taking into account the population of the Thiyyas also.
If the Thiyyas opt out of the Ezhavas, they would not get the present 14 per cent reservation.
Once the Ezhavas, Thiyyas, and the Billavas,(ETB) got 14 per cent reservation and now it was available only to the Ezhavas.
“There is a systematic move to eliminate reservation benefits for Thiyyas and obliterate them from all official records,” said Sadnandan. He said though he had written a letter to the Chief Minister against the forcible conversion of Thiyyas into Ezhavas to facilitate the ‘Ezhavanisation’ of the Thiyyas, he did not even care to reply to the letter.
Purushothaman Mulloli of the Gobal Thiyya Initiate said that the SNDP and Vellappally Natesan were behind the forcible conversion of Thiyyas into the Ezhava community.
He said the GTI would legally and politically fight the injustice being meted out to the Thiyya community by the government.
Dr N Shyamalan, a medical doctor from the US said the Global Thiyya Community has plans to start news and entertainment channel and publications in order to retain the generic name Thiyyas, and educational institutions carrying the caste name would be set up to counter the conspiracy of the Ezhavas and the SNDP.