Casting the vote is the means of any political party’s survival, but for Dr S Ramadoss, boss of the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)—the Vanniyar-centric political party in Tamil Nadu that was launched in 1989—it is caste that matters for the vote. Though his son, former Union health minister Ambumani Ramadoss, who has launched a mass contact programme wants to become Tamil Nadu’s next chief minister, father Ramadoss hopes his virulent anti-Dalit campaign will resurrect the PMK’s sorry electoral fortunes: the party won just three seats in the 2011 Assembly polls, whereas it had 18 MLAs in the previous Assembly.
S Ramadoss publicly spoke against Dalit youths ‘luring girls from his Vanniyar community’. He is clear about aligning only with caste-based parties and not the state’s Dravidian parties. His latest tirade against inter-caste marriages, particularly against women from intermediary castes marrying Dalit men was triggered by the political attack on the PMK by various parties after Dalit colonies were set on fire in the Paramakudi riots.
Son Ramadoss defended his party and father’s stand that they have been misunderstood. He said, “My father or our party is not against Dalits. We have several office-bearers who are Dalits. We have been maintaining it for a long time. Locally, also we have cordial relationship with the Dalit people. My father was only referring to the ‘love drama’ enacted by some Dalit youth, who woo Vanniyar girls, lure them into marriage and then pack them off with a sole aim of extracting money from the families. My father had to react after the Paramakudi incidents because all the political parties were speaking out against the PMK, accusing us of instigating the riots. The PMK had no role in the riots.”
Contrary to son’s comments, Ramadoss had called for a meeting of several caste-based outfits in Chennai and spoke against Dalits, which was seen as a clear attempt to polarise Tamil society.
The prolonged agitation by Vanniyar Sangam in 1987 catapulted him into active politics as a messiah of the Vanniyars, who were accorded the 'most-backward class' status afterwards. The PMK has been part of all winning alliances between 1998 and 2009, except in 2011.
Several veteran Vanniyar leaders, who have left the PMK and turned into bitter critics, accuse Ramadoss of developing only his family’s fortunes and neglecting the community's interests. Former PMK president Dheeran said, “Ramadoss whipping up caste feelings was a clear ploy at gaining political momentum that he was aiming to leverage during elections.”
Ramadoss has based his strategy on Vanniyars voting for him en bloc and leaders of other caste-based outfits garnering votes from their respective communities, so that he could lead the caste coalition and come to power in the state. The Vaniyar leader claims that of the around 7.21 crore population of the state (2011 census), 2 crore are Vanniyars.
