Hours after Anbumani submits plea for 20 per cent quota to Vanniyars, CM announces caste census panel
PMK’s protest demanding 20 per cent reservation for Vanniyars on Tuesday turned violent as party workers started pelting stones at trains and damaging public properties.
Chennai
However, this is not the first time that PMK is staging such a massive protest demanding reservation, as in 1987 the party staged mega protests blocking all the roads in northern districts for a week which forced then state government to form a category named most back-ward classes and allotted 20 per cent reservation for them.
Though the modalities of the protest are the same, the demand for the current protest is a separate 20 per cent reservation for Vanniyar community alone.While Ramadoss lead the protest in 1987, his son and MP Anbumani Ramadoss is leading the current protest.
There was traffic jam till afternoon and public complained that they could not reach their work places on time. As police blocked all the PMK flag-laden vehicles near Perungulathur, there was verbal dispute between PMK workers and police following which PMK cadre tried to throw away the barricades.
In the meantime, a section of PMK cadre went towards the railway track near Tambaram and started pelting stones at trains, including Anantapuri Express and sub-urban trains causing damage.
Speaking about the protest, Ramadoss tweeted that though he was physically absent from the protest all his thoughts are on the Chennai protests.
Meanwhile, seeing the intensity of the protests, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami invited Anbumani Ramadoss for talks at Secretariat and after the talks Anbumani said that the Chief Minister had agreed to implement their demands.
When asked about the violence during protest, Anbumani asked media not to portray Vanniyar community as a violent community. He dismissed the workers rage on road and rails as minor altercations.
After the meeting with Anbumani, Chief Minister Palaniswami announced that a commission will be formed to study the modalities of carrying out caste census in the state. Justifying the need for caste census, Chief Minister said that as the case for 69 per cent reservation is pending in Supreme Court, the data related to castes need to be taken.
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