CHENNAI: Opposing the Central and State governments’ decision to rename the seven sub-sects of Scheduled Castes as Devendrakula Velala, caste associations representing various communities, Pillais, Mudaliyars, Chettiars etc, who use the appendage Vellalar and Velaalar observed a hunger strike in the capital city on Sunday.
Representing the All India Federation of ‘Vellalar - Velalar’ and the Vellalar Name Protection Committee, more than 200 members staged a demonstration at Valluvar Kottam claiming that ‘Vellalar’ caste title, which refers to people who traditionally performed agricultural works, only belongs to select OBC castes Mudaliyar, Pillai, Gounder and Chettiyar.
Claiming that they were humiliated when the governments assigned the title to other castes, the protestors vowed to teach the governments a lesson in the upcoming polls. Film producer Isari K Ganesh took part in the demonstration and said, “A few castes have had the ‘Vellalar’ title for more than 2,000 years and it has been assigned to others without eliciting our views. We want the government to consider our plea before taking a final decision.”
On February 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a Bill to amend the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 to rename the seven sub-sects would be placed before Parliament. Meanwhile, the Puthiya Thamizhagam party, which had demanded regrouping of the seven castes for several years, is yet to publicly commend the AIADMK and BJP governments for the decision. The party Chief K Krishnasamy continues to seek delisting of seven castes from the SC category, claiming renaming of the castes was just the first step to regain the castes’ glory.