In a significant escalation of their long-standing demand, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss has announced a massive ‘fill the jails’ protest for December 17th. The party aims to compel the DMK government to implement a 15% reservation for the Vanniyar community in both educational institutions and government jobs, to be carved out from the existing Most Backward Classes category.
Dr. Anbumani highlighted the DMK’s failure to deliver on this crucial promise, noting that it has been 1,267 days since the Supreme Court invalidated the earlier 10.5% internal reservation for Vanniyars. He urged party members and supporters, including himself, to participate across all districts at 11 a.m. on December 17th, with an ambitious target of 500,000 arrests.
He explained that the PMK had deliberately refrained from aggressive protests, hoping the DMK would voluntarily uphold its commitment to the quota. However, citing the prolonged delay, Dr. Anbumani declared, “We cannot wait any longer. That is why we have announced this protest. The PMK will not rest without ensuring the implementation of this reservation.” He criticized the DMK’s current stance, which attributes the delay to a lack of caste census data, arguing that the Supreme Court’s ruling did not mandate such a census. Furthermore, he pointed to Karnataka’s swift data collection for Scheduled Castes as an example of what can be achieved.
Dr. Anbumani also recounted instances where the DMK allegedly demonstrated an unwillingness to support Vanniyar reservations. He recalled the DMK’s boycott of the 10.5% reservation bill in February 2021 and their election campaign, which he claimed consolidated non-Vanniyar voters by opposing the very reservation they now demand. He asserted that the DMK’s opposition has persisted for three and a half years.
In a parallel development, PMK founder S. Ramadoss’s official spokesperson, P. Swaminaathun, has taken the internal party dispute to the Election Commission (EC) in Delhi. Mr. Swaminaathun submitted a letter requesting the EC to amend its communication to Dr. Anbumani regarding his extended tenure, instead recognizing Dr. Ramadoss as the party president for three years, based on a special general body meeting held on August 17th.