CHENNAI: DMK legal wing joint secretary and former MLA I Paranthamen on Saturday accused the State government of deliberately erasing the history of social justice by removing the names of Periyar, BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru from the Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes Welfare Department's policy note.
Even though the department's Minister V Sampath Kumar took the onus on himself, calling it an oversight on his part and ordering the booklet to be reissued with the missing images, the issue refuses to die down.
In a statement, Paranthamen said that the names of the three leaders mentioned in the previous policy notes had been omitted from the latest document placed before the Assembly.
Parandhaman criticised the Congress' non-response, pointing out that Nehru's name had been removed despite his role in the First Constitutional Amendment. He demanded that the government restore the names of Periyar, Ambedkar and Nehru and reissue the revised policy note.
He alleged that the government had also curtailed references to the history of reservation, including the Justice Party, communal representation, Periyar's agitations, the Mandal Commission and the 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes in Central government jobs and educational institutions.
Parandhaman said the previous DMK government's policy note recorded that the Supreme Court's 1951 decision to strike down the communal representation order led to Periyar's protests in Tamil Nadu.
He added that the policy note had also recorded the roles of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Law Minister BR Ambedkar in the amendment.
"Removing the names of leaders who played a crucial role in the reservation movement from official government documents is a betrayal of history," Paranthamen said. He questioned how the government could remove the names of Periyar and Ambedkar from official records while claiming them as ideological leaders.