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After taking on bigger pan-India, pan-Tamil points reminiscent of State rights, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi seems to be pivoting in the direction of points surrounding its main help base — Adi Dravidars and Paraiyars — in politics and different spheres in Tamil Nadu.
The thought was put ahead at a current webinar on Rettaimalai Srinivasan, carried out by the social gathering and presided over by its chief Thol. Thirumavalavan. The social gathering’s common secretary and Villupuram MP D. Ravikumar was a part of the webinar.
Expanding on the precept, in an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Ravikumar demanded that round 60 castes that come below the Scheduled Caste record in Tamil Nadu (barring the Devendrakula Vellalars and Arundhathiyars) be recognized as ‘Adi Dravidars’.
“According to the 2011 census, there are 76 castes in SC list. Out of these, 2 castes have no members; 14 have already separated – 7 identify themselves as ‘Arundhathiyars’ and 7 more are demanding that they be recognised as ‘Devendrakula Vellalars’ and be removed from the SC list. Out of these 60 castes, Adi Dravidars and Paraiyars constitute around 90 lakh in terms of population. If we identify the 60 castes as Adi Dravidars, it will cross 1 crore people in terms of population and they will be around 65% of the total Dalit population in the State,” he mentioned.
Mr. Ravikumar mentioned that the Adi Dravidar (and Paraiyar) group had been systematically sidelined – when it comes to illustration in jobs, training and in addition by way of political significance within the State – regardless of being such an enormous inhabitants.
‘Not respected’
“Despite the numbers, we have never been given proper representation or political importance in the State. Even the Adi Dravidar political icons are not respected while other caste icons are respected. The reason this is happening is because this community doesn’t claim its caste identity as much as it talks about annihilation of caste,” he mentioned.
While the VCK had pursued quite a few progressive bigger political points, he was requested if the choice to refocus its consideration to the wants of the group won’t end in social gathering being labelled a ‘scheduled caste’ social gathering as soon as once more. “We are not claiming the Paraiyar identity. Claiming sub-caste identity is against the Ambedkar’s concept of ‘Annihilation of caste’. We are highlighting this issue only in the interest of social justice. Usually, only numerically small communities will be sidelined in electoral politics, which works on the strength of numbers. Despite being one of the largest communities in Tamil Nadu, why is there such a big neglect?” he requested.
While Mr. Ravikumar acknowledged that Adi Dravidar identity and Paraiyar identity are sometimes interchangeable in sensible phrases, he reiterated that the VCK isn’t trying a caste-mobilisation. “Adi Dravidar is not a caste identity but a secular ‘casteless’ identity and was put forward by leaders such as Rettaimalai Srinivasan, M.C. Rajah and Ayothee Thass. We are asking that all 60 castes to be brought under ‘Adi Dravidar’ identity. Over time, they will inter-marry and sub-caste differences will wither away,” he mentioned.
No imposition
On the problem of imposing the ‘Adi Dravidar’ identity on different communities, Mr. Ravikumar mentioned, “We cannot force anyone to accept this identity. Let this become a model for removing caste differences. If there are community leaders who don’t want to be called ‘Adi Dravidars’, they should be free to leave.”
Mr. Ravikumar believes that figuring out 60 castes as ‘Adi Dravidars’ will end in elimination of variations between them. “If you take Mukkulathors, all three castes have become one and are called Thevars. The same has happened with Vanniyars. The sub-group political and cultural differences have disappeared over time. The critics often ask: how can castes be annihilated when Scheduled Castes maintain differences within themselves? There is logic in this criticism and we have to start from here,” he mentioned.
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