If the Tamil Nadu government continues to delay the conduct of caste survey, which is a prelude to caste census, then the time is not too far for their drama to get exposed automatically, said Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam president Vijay on Thursday.
In a statement, Mr. Vijay said since Independence, caste census was not conducted in India. There has been a demand across the country to conduct caste census. During the TVK’s inaugural conference at Vikravandi and in its first general council meeting, the party had passed resolutions in favour of conducting caste census.
“The constitution has provision for the State governments to conduct caste surveys. States like Bihar and Karnataka had already completed such caste surveys. Recently, the Telangana government completed the caste survey within a span of 50 days and further started discussing it in the Assembly. Why the Tamil Nadu government, which boasts that some of its schemes are being adopted and implemented in other States, is hesitant to follow them in conducting caste survey which forms the basis of social justice,” Mr. Vijay said.
He also alleged that the State government continues to cheat people of Tamil Nadu by not conducting the caste survey. “It was Periyar [social reformer E.V. Ramasamy], one of the ideological icons of our party, who organised agitations and thus played an instrumental role in amending the Constitution with respect to the reservation system. The current ruling dispensation in the State, which claims ‘Periyar is our leader, continues to argue that they do not have the power to conduct a caste census,” he said. He also alleged that both the Union and State governments are travelling in the same path with respect to conducting caste census, he charged.
