The Vijay government is yet to publicly explain why references to Periyar, Ambedkar, Nehru and the Justice Party, which were included in the 2024 policy note, were omitted from the latest document.
The 2024 policy note, tabled by the then DMK government, had detailed Periyar’s role in the 1951 agitation against the Supreme Court’s striking down of the Communal GO. The government is yet to publicly explain why references to Periyar, Ambedkar, Nehru and the Justice Party, which were included in the 2024 policy note, were omitted from the latest document.
On Friday, minister V Sampath Kumar, replying to the debate on the demands for grants in the Assembly, said the foundation of the TVK government was laid on Periyar’s core ideology of “Everything for Everyone”. CHENNAI: The C Joseph Vijay-led Tamiliga Vettri Kazhagam govt’s policy note for the Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare Department has dropped references to social reformer Thanthai Periyar EV Ramasamy, BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru that figured in the previous year’s document, triggering a political controversy. It also linked the agitation to the First Constitutional Amendment brought in by then Prime Minister Nehru and law minister Ambedkar. References to the Justice Party’s contribution to Tamil Nadu’s social justice movement have also been dropped. The omission has put the spotlight on the government’s handling of references to Tamil Nadu’s social justice history at a time when it has been projecting social justice as a key part of its policy agenda.
The corresponding section has been omitted from the latest policy note tabled in the Assembly on Thursday.
