‘AIADMK should get credit for protecting internal reservation for Arunthathiyars’
Former Speaker P. Dhanapal on Tuesday said the erstwhile AIADMK government should get credit for the steps it had taken to protect the internal reservation for Arunthathiyars within the Scheduled Castes (SC) category.
The internal reservation was challenged, and the then AIADMK regime had constituted a 20-member expert panel to protect the rights of Arunthathiyars, he recalled.
Dubbing the actions of the DMK government as a “drama”, Mr. Dhanapal urged the Tamil Nadu government to release a White Paper on the atrocities meted out to members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under its regime.
Listing the initiatives taken during the AIADMK government under former Chief Ministers M.G. Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa and Edappadi K. Palaniswami to protect social justice, Mr. Dhanapal said the recent Supreme Court judgment was due to the efforts taken by the AIADMK government.
“It was Amma [former CM Jayalalithaa] who made me, a member of the Arunthathiyar community the Speaker of the Assembly and the Food Minister,” Mr. Dhanapal recalled. He pointed out that the AIADMK did not have a separate wing for members of the Scheduled Castes unlike the DMK, the Congress and the BJP.He further criticised the DMK for fielding former Union Minister A. Raja in the Nilgiris (Reserved) seat, and not in a general constituency. On the other hand, the AIADMK had once fielded Dalit Ezhilmalai in an unreserved constituency and he had won, he pointed out.
Members of the Arunthathiyar community felicitated Mr. Palaniswami at his residence for his efforts in protecting the internal quota for their community.
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