DMK treating Vanniyar community as mere vote bank during elections: Anbumani Ramadoss

PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday charged the ruling DMK with treating the Vanniyar community merely as a vote bank during elections. He claimed that the party and its president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin were against Vanniyars and social justice.

Leading a demonstration at the municipal ground in Villupuram to demand the implementation of 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars, Dr. Anbumani alleged that Mr. Stalin betrayed the Vanniyars by refusing to provide internal reservations for the community within the MBC quota. Though 1,208 days have passed since the Supreme Court struck down the Vanniyar reservations, the ruling DMK has been consistently misleading the people on the issue, he alleged. The apex court has observed that reservations for the Vanniyars or any other community can be given based on quantifiable data, he added.

Dr. Anbumani said the plea for reservation for Vanniyars had not been fulfilled for the last 45 years. Twenty-one persons lost their lives during the struggle demanding exclusive reservation for Vanniyars in 1989. Of them, 15 were from Villupuram district. The former Union Minister recalled that he and his father and party founder S. Ramadoss had met the Chief Minister on several occasions to press for the implementation of the quota, but in vain.

“The DMK and the Chief Minister betrayed the PMK by promising to give 10.5% internal reservation, and after four years, Mr. Stalin is now saying that reservation could be given only after the Union government conducts the caste census. Mr. Stalin repeatedly uttered this lie while States such as Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha, and Bihar conducted caste surveys, and now again, Karnataka has announced they are going to conduct a second caste survey. While these States have the right to conduct the surveys, why does Tamil Nadu not have that power?” Dr. Anbumani asked.

Of its total representatives, the DMK has 23 MLAs and five Members of Parliament from the Vanniyar community. “Did the Dravidian party implement any welfare schemes for the upliftment of the community?” he asked.

Stating not even one vote should go to the DMK in the 2026 elections, Mr. Anbumani said the time to unseat the DMK government has come.

Mr. Anbumani said the party would soon launch a jail bharo agitation across the State in support of its demand. If the DMK government fails to enact a law and ensure 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars, the party would intensify its protest and hold a road roko agitation in the second phase.