ARIYALUR: The Pattali Makkal Katchi’s protests for a separate reservation for Vanniyars has led to intense debates within the community. Is the PMK’s struggle one for social justice, as the party claims, or a strategy to increase its political mileage is the question at the top of many minds.
The PMK, after all, was born in the aftermath of the Vanniyar Sangam protests for 20 per cent reservation in 1987. The protests, at the time, commanded significant support from the community. The 2020 protests, however, come as the PMK finds its base having eroded over the years, primarily due to its tendency of shifting alliances between the two Dravidian majors.
Vijayakant’s DMDK is also believed to have eaten into the party’s vote bank when it first entered. In the 2016 Assembly polls, the party’s attempt to go it alone proved disastrous. Meanwhile, the death of party’s firebrand leader J Guru, its defeat in the 2019 parliamentary elections and widening gap between the leadership and the cadres during lockdown have further lowered the latter’s morale.
Now, with the BJP seeking to make inroads in Tamil Nadu by targeting the PMK’s voters and poaching its cadres, the party, with its back to the wall, has embarked on the protests seeking 20 per cent exclusive quota for the community.
In this context, while many in Vanniyar dominant areas are in favour of compartmental reservation for the community, they are sceptical of the PMK’s intentions, more so as the party is allied to the ruling AIADMK in the State and BJP at the Centre.
“We do not know if the PMK is doing it for political reasons or it is actually a fight for reservation because, the party is in the ruling coalition. Ramadoss (PMK chief) or Anbumani (his son) should have first met the Chief Minister with the demand and then gone ahead with the protest, if the demand was not met,” said a retired teacher, who is involved in community activities in Ariyalur district.
“The party should have attempted to involve various leaders of the community in achieving the demand. Also, the way the protests turned violent has disgusted the community,” the retired teacher said.
K Iyyappan, the BJP’s Ariyalur district president, claimed members of the community would not trust Ramadoss.
“They understand that the demand for 20 percent compartmental reservation for the community is not at all viable,” he said, claiming that nothing could stop PMK cadres from joining the BJP. Local leaders of both DMK and the AIADMK also said the protest would help the PMK consolidate its vote base to some extent. They believe it might increase the party’s bargaining power in getting more seats during alliance talks. Ramadoss too is determined not to let the protest to subside.
On Thursday, he announced that the party cadres would hold protests in front of 12, 621 VAO offices at all villages across state on December 14. A DMK functionary, himself a Vanniyar, said the protest was a concern for both Dravidian parties. “On one side, it will consolidate Vanniyar votes for the PMK and on the flipside it may dissolve non-Vanniyar votes to whichever alliance the PMK joins,” he said.
‘We wont stop until we achieve quota’
“Caste-wise data is of course our party’s demand but the current protest is for the 20 per cent reservation. We will not stop until we achieve that,” said K Balu, advocate and spokesperson of Pattali Makkal Katchi