CHENNAI: After the Supreme Court pronounced a judgment ordering that no reservation be provided to people who convert to Islam, the DMK has urged the State government to immediately file a review petition against the verdict.

In a statement, the party president MK Stalin said social backwardness was the result of centuries of social structures and would not disappear merely because a person changed religion. It argued that denying Backward Class reservation to people who converted to Islam would undermine social justice.

The DMK called on the TVK government to take immediate legal steps to protect the reservation rights of converts from backward communities and ensure that their claims were considered based on their social circumstances.

Recalling the previous DMK government's initiatives, the party said it had adopted a resolution urging the Union government to amend the Constitution to extend reservation benefits to Scheduled Caste people who convert to Christianity.

It urged the present government to continue pursuing that demand.

The party maintained that reservation for Backward Classes (BC), Most Backward Classes (MBC), and Scheduled Castes (SC) should be determined by taking into account the social discrimination and disadvantages these communities face.