BJP Wants Dalit Votes, Not Their Welfare in TN, Says PT leader

Madurai: K Krishnasamy, Puthiya Tamizhagam leader, flayed the BJP saying, “If the BJP is genuinely keen on Schedule Caste welfare, why is it silent on greater discrimination and atrocities against these Castes in Tamil Nadu?”
Questioning the BJP legitimacy in trying to bring the party president Amit Shah to push the long-pending demands of six SC sub-castes to recognize them as Devendrakula Vellalars, Krishnasamy said it was an attempt to woo the community for political mileage. He asserted that it would end in failure.
“The BJP didn’t make any statement against the recently honour killing of Dalit youth Gokulraj in Salem district. It is not an isolated case. Many dalit youths were victims of honour killing in Tamil Nadu, and atrocities against the SC across the state have been increasing, but the party’s TN unit remains a mere spectator,” claimed Krishnasamy.
“As they strongly believe in Hindu ideology, at least they could have urged the caste Hindus not to indulge in violence against dalits for preserving caste glory,” he said.
Instead of addressing these issues, the BJP was joining hands with fringe dalit outfits to project themselves as representing the welfare of SC. It was a poll strategy to get votes. “Dalits know who were really working for their welfare, and they won’t rally behind the BJP,” he said.
Elaborating the efforts taken by PT in the last 30 years to declare six SC sub castes – Pallar, Pannadi, Kudumbar, Kaalaadi, Muppar and Devendrakulatar – as Devendrakula Vellalars, Krishnasamy said because of his party’s persistent effort, the previous government formed a panel to examine these and it submitted the recommendations. “But so far the government didn’t pass a GO to announce them as Devendrakula Vellalars,” he said.
The Backward Castes and Most Backward Caste members were also getting reservation benefits like Schedule Castes, but they were being addressed by their Caste names.
“But since the 1980s, 77 caste categories as Adidravidars were addressied as dalits or SC among other names,” he said. Hence to press for declaring the six SC sub castes as Devendrakula Vellalars, the PT would organise a protest across the state on August 6, he said.
Commenting on the death of six women employees when their van caught fire in Virudhunagar district recently, Krishnasamy claimed the police didn’t probe the case properly. While the cause of the death was because the van had fallen into a roadside gorge, which was filled with crackers waste, the police recorded it as death due to driver negligence, the PT leader said. “Police deliberately hid the fact that cracker waste was the main cause of death,” he claimed.
While welcoming the DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s comment on total prohibition, Krishnasamy said the PMK leader Ramadoss didn’t have a locus standi to make a statement on this issue because PMK didn’t have any ideology for the welfare of people.

Source: The New Indian Express