Allow states to decide on quantum of reservation, says TN CM Stalin

Tamil Nadu, for instance, had a maximum of 69 per cent reservation and it should not be capped at 50 per cent, said Chief Minister

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Tuesday opposed limiting reservation to 50 per cent in employment and education and demanded that respective states be allowed to decide on the quantum of quota.

Tamil Nadu, for instance, had a maximum of 69 per cent reservation and it should not be capped at 50 per cent, the Chief Minister said virtually addressing the second conference of All India Federation for Social Justice, New Delhi.

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Hence, based on the population of the deserving sections, the states should be allowed to decide on the quantum of quota, the president of the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu said.

He accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of not properly implementing the reservation policy.

Power to grant reservation by apportioning it on the basis of population proportionate to the respective states, should rest with the state governments, the Chief Minister argued.

“Therefore, it is not correct to say that the reservation should not go beyond 50 per cent. Providing reservation is the right of the states and the power should be devolved so that the respective states can give due reservation to their people,” Stalin said.

Taking a dig at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for expressing his support for reservation, Stalin sought to know where the same RSS was when the V P Singh regime that provided social justice to the BC was toppled. “Was it not the same RSS? Now Mohan Bhagwat is talking about reservation to deceive the marginalised sections as Lok Sabha election is approaching,” he said.

If the BJP was really interested in social justice, then it would have implemented the 27 per cent reservation policy during its 9 years of rule, Stain said and added that the BJP does not want the poor, BC, SC and tribals to progress. “That is why they are against social justice,” the Chief Minister said.

He urged the Central government to implement the two demands made by late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on October 14, 1973, in Uttar Pradesh, on providing quota for SCs in central government jobs and to fill up the government posts by allocating a specific quantum of reservation for the SC and Backward sections.

He stated that the late M Karunanidhi was instrumental in pressuring the V P Singh government to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission in 1990. The V P Singh government was toppled by the BJP.

Social justice is the basic rule of the DMK founded on this principle. The Dravidian movement came into existence to ensure social justice and an egalitarian society, he said. The DMK’s progenitor, the Justice Party formed in 1916, provided caste-based reservation after it came to power in 1922.

“The Raja of Panagal (Panaganti Ramarayaningar, the president of the Justice Party who served as Premier of Madras Presidency) introduced the caste-based reservation and passed an order in this regard. Looking at Tamil Nadu, various states are providing social justice,” the Chief Minister said.

He claimed credit for the Dravidian movement in providing social justice to the people of Tamil Nadu but also in guiding the oppressed people of other states of India to get their rights.

Following protests in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Constitution was amended for the first time and 15(4) of the First Amendment stated that “no section shall prevent the provision of privileges to any member of the community who is socially and educationally backward,” Stalin said. This development made former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru refer to the “happenings in Madras,” in Parliament.

“Socially and Educationally” is the definition of social justice in the Constitution. Article 340 of the Constitution of India, which empowers the establishment of the Commission for Backward Classes, defines ‘Socially and Educationally,’ he said. “That is providing reservation socially and educationally for the downtrodden is defined in the Constitution,” the Chief Minister said.