Chennai: Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi (TVK) president T. Velmurugan is miffed with the Stalin government for not giving enough space to air his party’s views and is considering his options ahead of the polls in Tamil Nadu.
In an interview with ThePrint, Velmurugan said that he felt insulted because several of his repeated demands, including those for his constituency of Panruti, have been ignored by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
The government, according to the DMK ally, was not fulfilling its own election promises.
“Two rivers, Kedilam and Thenpennai, flow on either side of my constituency. Due to Cyclone Fengal, heavy rains, and floods, there has been extensive damage in (Cuddalore) district. I have been demanding the construction of fences along the riverbanks to prevent loss of life during floods, but the government is not listening to us at all,” he stated.
“I am being questioned by my people in the constituency and I could not answer them because of the mismanagement of the DMK government. Just because I am in the DMK alliance, I feel pressured and I could not speak my mind all these days.”
He further accused the DMK government of heckling him in the Tamil Nadu assembly when he tried to flag his constituency’s demands. “Often, I do not get time to speak, and even when I do, some from the DMK side would say, ‘Sit down, it’s time for lunch.’ How long must I endure this?”
Velmurugan, who has been part of the DMK alliance since 2019, also criticised the government for allegedly discriminating against the people of northern Tamil Nadu in allotment of flood-relief funds.
“While flood victims in Chennai and the southern districts received Rs 6,000 each last year, those affected by Cyclone Fengal in northern Tamil Nadu were given only Rs 2,000. This discriminatory behaviour must end,” he claimed.
The DMK government should work for the people of northern Tamil Nadu for the remaining term, he said.
Regarding his ties with Stalin’s party, Velmurugan confirmed he remains in the alliance but has received invitations from other political parties to join them. “I will decide on those invitations after a year,” he said.
Tamil Nadu will go to elections in 2026.
Later, DMK minister Durai Murugan said that the ruling party treated all people equally. “As for the alliance, if he (Velmurugan) is having any discontent, we will reach out to him and sort it out,” the minister from the northern region’s Vellore district said.
Hailing from northern Tamil Nadu, where Vanniyars, a Most Backward Community (MBC), are in significant numbers, Velmurugan plays a crucial role in the DMK-led alliance. Anbumani Ramadoss’s Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Velmurugan’s TVK are key parties advocating for the Vanniyar community’s interests.
Expelled from the PMK in 2011, Velmurugan founded his outfit the next year. His party’s alliance with the DMK has also indirectly helped DMK ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) to some extent in appealing to Vanniyar voters, considering the historical friction between the MBCs and the Scheduled Castes in northern Tamil Nadu.
Velmurugan first became an MLA in 2001 from Panruti when he was with the PMK, which was in alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). In 2006, Velmurugan was re-elected from the constituency. He was elected from Panruti for the third time in 2021.
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‘Putting ball in Centre’s court’
Velmurugan, who is also seen as a Vanniyar representative, feels that the DMK is going against its own promise of implementing the 10.5 percent internal reservation for Vanniyars.
In 2021, hours before the assembly election was announced, the AIADMK passed a 10.5 percent special reservation for the Vanniyakula Kshatriyas also known as Vanniyars within the 20 percent quota for the MBCs.
But the Supreme Court quashed the quota in April 2022, stating that it is “impermissible under the Constitution” to give internal reservation solely based on either caste or population.
Similarly, he accused the DMK of ignoring the Vanniyar icons such as freedom fighters Nagappan Padayatchi, Salem Kavisingam, and S. Arthanareesa Varma.
According to the Ambashankar Commission formed in 1982, Vanniyars constitute about 13 percent of the state’s population. However, the subsequent caste census didn’t reveal the numbers of individual castes. Nevertheless, the PMK claims that the numbers have rose to 24 percent in 2023.
There are about 40 Vanniyar MLAs in the Tamil Nadu assembly of which 23 are from the ruling DMK. There are four ministers from the community.
The DMK is intentionally putting the ball in the Centre’s court on several issues, including the caste-based census, according to Velmurugan.
“We have been demanding a caste-based census in the state. However, the DMK is blaming the Union Government for not conducting the caste-based census, knowing well that it would not do it anytime soon,” he alleged.
He also suspected that Stalin’s party was hand in glove with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in granting the mining rights in Madurai district.
“Tungsten mining rights to Hindustan Zinc Limited in Nayakkarpatti village were given 10 months ago. However, the DMK was silent all the while. The moment there was opposition from the ground, they also opposed it and passed a resolution in the assembly and blamed the Union government,” he said, wondering if the DMK would have let the mining happen had the people been unaware about the developments until it began.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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