States will use the right to sub-list communities for reservation for electoral gain, says Ravikumar
VCK general secretary and Villupuram MP D. Ravikumar has questioned the powers granted to the State governments to sub-categorise Scheduled Caste (SC) communities through the recent Supreme Court verdict despite his party supporting the then DMK government’s (2006-2011) decision to provide 3% internal reservation to Arundhathiyar community within the SC quota.
Mr. Ravikumar told The Hindu that the powers given to the State government would be misused for electoral gain by satisfying the demands of numerically, socially and politically dominant communities and that this was against Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s vision.
“Most of the mainstream parties in the State are supporting the 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars within the MBC quota. While the AIADMK government enacted the law, the DMK has maintained the status quo. But do parties see the need for a similar reservation for Paraiyars/Adi Dravidar communities, who perhaps deserve internal reservation more than the Vanniyars?,” he asked, adding, “I urge the major political parties to speak about this.”
Mr. Ravikumar said he found no contradiction in opposing the State’s right to sub-categorise communities within the SC list even as he supported former Chief MinisterM. Karunanidhi’s decision to provide 3% internal reservation to Arundhathiyars.
“If States are given powers, they will not do it [grant internal reservation] for empowering communities, but rather do it for electoral gain. It [the DMK] cannot be accused of providing reservation to Arundhathiyar community for electoral gain as members of the community are not present in a concentrated manner. They are just around 21 lakhs in number, mainly concentrated in urban centres.”
He further said that he believed ‘Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) was an exceptional case who set up ‘Equality village’ (Samathuvapuram), which is a dream of Dr. Ambedkar’.
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